A valiant effort from Blackheath in a hard-fought, and sometimes tetchy, contest, but the National League One leaders ultimately proving too strong.
On a grey November afternoon at Old Bath Road, Rams scored five tries, all from set-play moves, to make it ten out of ten wins, and keep their quest for promotion to the Championship firmly on course.
Blackheath started positively. Within the first minute, they forced Rams into conceding a five-metre scrum, and as ball was twice held up over the goal-line, two similar opportunities would have accrued, had it not been for recent, much unloved law change that rewards the defending side and allowed them to clear.
With a largely dominant scrum, however, the pendulum swung towards the Berkshire side, the pressure on the visitors demonstrated by the concession of ten first half penalties, and although the match remained scoreless for the opening half-hour, two blows prior to the interval put the hosts on the front-foot.
A short lineout move saw Rams’ skipper and hooker Max Hayman devour a gap to cross for a try, quickly followed by centre Solodrau Radianirova gobbling-up a cross-field kick, to send full-back Zach Clow racing home from 50-metres, fly-half Fraser Honey adding both conversions to chew out a 14-0 lead at the break.
Blackheath ate a chunk out of the advantage after the re-start, as Jake Hennessey and Will Davis attacked down the left flank, the loose-head driving close before Billy Harding finished off, only for another lineout move enabling Rams’ number-eight Robbie Stapley to drive across, moving the hosts 19-7 ahead.
However, Blackheath’s lineout also functioned well, and although a rare blemish saw ball overthrown on 63 minutes, Oskar Hisrkyj-Douglas moved up from centre to mop up, Jordan Burns spotted a gap, and Archie Holland sent open-side Noah Sloot across for the try, Tom Ffitch’s conversion narrowing the gap to just five points.
Honey saw a long-range penalty attempt rattle the upright, but it wasn’t long before Rams were stretching out again.
Another move blind off a short throw had flanker Morgan MacRae touching down in the corner, before Radianirova made sure, another lineout play seeing the outside-centre hit a pass at pace to crash through the midfield for the fifth Rams try.
Next Saturday, Blackheath return to The Utilita Well Hall for the visit of Ding’s Crusaders. Kick-off is at 3.00 pm.
Rams
Tries: Hayman 32, Clow 36, Stapley 51, MacRae 70, Radianirova 75
Conv: Honey 32, 36, 70, 75
Blackheath
Tries: Harding 44, Sloot 63
Conv: Ffitch 44, 63
Attendance: 747
| 15 | . | Auguy Slowik |
| 14 | . | Jake Lloyd |
| 13 | . | Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas |
| 12 | . | Markus Burcham |
| 11 | . | Jake Hennessey |
| 10 | . | Tom Ffitch |
| 9 | . | Jordan Burns |
| 1 | . | Will Davis |
| 2 | . | Billy Harding |
| 3 | . | Rory Marsh |
| 4 | . | Tom Everard |
| 5 | . | Mike Etete |
| 6 | . | Josh Smart |
| 7 | . | Noah Sloot |
| 8 | . | Tom Baldwin (Capt) |
| 16 | . | Ollie Walliker |
| 17 | . | Archie Holland |
| 18 | . | Andrew Boye |
| 19 | . | Matt Armstrong |
| 20 | . | Tevita Cavubati |
Photos: Debbie Lloyd
Graham Cox
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