A thoroughly convincing win in the end for Blackheath, though not always as lop-sided as the final scoreline might suggest.
Darlington Mowden Park arrived at the Utilita Well Hall, just one place from the foot of National League One, without a win, and having conceded no fewer than 40-points in each of their preceding games.
Nevertheless, in an evenly contested opening, the north-easterners gave the Club a few early scares, until the hosts upped the physicality, dominated the set-piece, and began to cut out the handling errors that were still prevalent from the previous week at Moseley.
Only Will Davis’ intercept stopped a certain try for Park openside and skipper Will Craggs, and although Tom Ffitch’s tap-tackle caused visiting scrum-half Ben Douglas to stumble, the Club defence piled in to kill the ball resulting in a yellow card for Auguy Slowik, and with the extra man, left-wing Olly Walker bounced off a tackle to score in the corner.
Frustration mounted for Blackheath as they were twice held-up across the goal-line, but on 34 minutes Archie Holland arrived off the bench and made an immediate impact as the tight-head hit Markus Burcham’s pass, after the centre opened-up the Park defence, and crossed for a converted try.
Soon after, Burcham made the final pass again, after Tom Baldwin and Olly Walliker made ground, for Jake Lloyd to cross in the corner and Blackheath ended the opening period with a 12-5 lead.
With a faultless lineout and dominant scrum, Blackheath took an iron-grip on the second half.
After pounding and probing the right corner, Ffitch’s looped pass enabled Lloyd to squeeze over for his second on 52 minutes.
A dangerous tackle temporarily reduced Park to 14-men, and with Walliker finding Tom Everard at the lineout, Noah Sloot steamed across from the drive.
Alex Witchell matched Walliker’s accuracy, the replacement hooker picking out Tevita Cavubati, and as the second-row emerged again to make ground, Davis crashed over for a fifth try.
Then, in the closing stages, Slowik sent Matt Armstrong on a break, the wing held just short of the goal-line, but returning the ball to his full-back for a final try.
‘After last week, we tried to overplay and force things’ said Club director of rugby James Shanahan, ‘but their try was a sucker punch which woke us up and we started looking after the ball better.’
‘At half-time we spoke about being patient, and in the second period our kicking game was excellent and defence outstanding – they never looked like scoring.’
‘If we’d been more ruthless from the start we might have scored more tries, but at the end of the season it’s a win, so we’ll take that and move on to Plymouth next week which will be a really tough game.’
Plymouth Albion v Blackheath is a 3.00 pm kick-off at Brickfields next Saturday.
Blackheath
Tries: Holland 34, Lloyd 37, 52, Sloot 62, Davis 70, Slowik 75
Conv: Ffitch 34, 52, 62, 75, Burgess 70
Darlington Mowden Park
Tries: Walker
Attendance: 425
| 15 | . | Augustin Slowik |
| 14 | . | Jake Lloyd |
| 13 | . | Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas |
| 12 | . | Markus Burcham |
| 11 | . | Matt Armstrong |
| 10 | . | Tom Ffitch |
| 9 | . | Jordan Burns |
| 1 | . | Will Davis |
| 2 | . | Ollie Walliker |
| 3 | . | Andrew Boye |
| 4 | . | Tom Everard |
| 5 | . | Mike Etete |
| 6 | . | Josh Smart |
| 7 | . | Noah Sloot |
| 8 | . | Tom Baldwin (Capt) |
| 16 | . | Alex Witchell |
| 17 | . | Archie Holland |
| 18 | . | Tevita Cavubati |
| 19 | . | George Daly |
| 20 | . | Oli Burgess |
Photos: Andy Wanbury
Graham Cox
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