Canterbury try to hold up Richmond on Saturday Picture: Paul Dennis

Canterbury fought back from a poor start to claim a losing National 2 South bonus point in their 52-28 home defeat to Richmond on Saturday.

The visitors scored 21 points in the first 10 minutes and that early burst set them on course for their ninth consecutive victory.

Carlton Littlechild went over and Tom Best kicked the conversion to give Canterbury hope but Richmond’s ability to punish errors was, however, unquenched and more blunders handed the visitors further tries.

Five minutes into the second half, Canterbury grabbed a try from Peter Kelly, converted by Best.

Richmond countered with two more tries but several replacements saw them lose their rhythm and the city side renewed their chase for the bonus point. They achieved it when Kelly claimed his 13th try of the season and Littlechild made his second touchdown.

Best’s conversions saw Canterbury shade the second half scoring but Richmond rounded off their impressive display with a final try.