Photo courtesy of Alex Williamson
Seven tries from Blackheath at a venue that has seen a fair few sides come unstuck this season.
In their first season as high as National League One, Dings Crusaders have found life tough away from home, including a 16-7 loss in the reverse fixture in November, but on their 4G surface at Shaftesbury Park, had claimed six wins and a draw from ten starts.
However, as they’ve done in recent contests, Blackheath struck early to take the initiative, and although they saw a lead wiped out twice in the opening period, three scores around the interval saw the Club pull away, and move to a convincing fourth successive away win, and up to fifth place in the table.
The early strike came on five minutes, as a delayed pass from Augy Slowik, deputising at fly-half once again, followed by Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas’ inside ball, sent Jake Lloyd across for a converted try.
Basic errors plagued both sides for a while, the Bristolians knocking-on twice as they drove towards the Club goal-line, but on 27 minutes Dings’ hooker Tomas Gwilliam grounded from a third close-range lineout, fly-half Jamie Elswood’s conversion drawing the scores level.
Only for a moment. Almost straight from the re-start, Jordan Burns spotted a gap around the fringes, the Club scrum-half showing blistering pace to weave around the Dings defence from 40 metres for an outstanding try.
Dings responded once again, as wing Sol O’Brien-Taufa met a cross-field kick to flop across the try-line. But with an exceptional sidestep for a tight-head, Andy Boye began a move which Lloyd and Markus Burcham continued down the right flank, and as ball made its way across to the opposite touchline, Finn Gilmour was able to stroll home for the wing’s first Club try and a 19-14 interval lead for the visitors.
Two tries within ten minutes of the re-start saw Blackheath take a firmer grip.
A break from Josh Smart sent Billy Harding down the right touchline, and the blind-side was instrumental moments later as he secured the high ball to send Lloyd away, the right-wing caught just short, but Burcham on hand to finish, and claim the Club’s 100th try of the campaign, Jake Hennessey adding his third conversion.
Blackheath will be less happy with the soft tackling that followed immediately after to allow Dings’ wing Harry Rowson across, but as a moment of indiscipline from the hosts gave the visitors the extra ten metres and a five-metre lineout, Harding peeled-off on the open-side for the hooker’s 19th try of the season and a 15-point lead for the Club to take into the closing stages.
Dings, always looking to be expansive, pressed for the four-try bonus, and were eventually rewarded as an overlap saw full-back Tommy Foot over, but the last word fell to Blackheath as Slowik hacked forward a loose ball in-goal, and Matt Armstrong grounded.
‘The 4G surface at Dings is a fantastic track, and with two teams wanting to throw the ball around it was always going to be an exciting match,’ said player-of-the-match Billy Harding. ‘Full credit to the boys for coming out on the better side of it.’
‘This is a fantastic league where anyone can beat anyone on their day and if you’re five percent off it can cost you, but we’re hitting a rich vein of form just now, executing the game-plans the coaching staff put in place.’
‘It shows how close we are as a team that we want keep going right to the end of the season.’
Blackheath have a week off next Saturday, but return to action on 5th April when they host title challengers Rotherham in their final home game of the campaign. Kick off at The Utilita in Kidbrooke Lane is at 3.00 pm.
Dings Crusaders
Tries: Gwilliam 27, O’Brien-Taufa 34, Rowson 51, Foot 77
Conv: Elswood 27, 34, Boulton 51
Blackheath
Tries: Lloyd 5, Burns 30, Gilmour 39, Harding 45, 69, Burcham 50, Armstrong 80
Conv: Hennessey 5, 30, 50, Slowik 80
Attendance: 410
| 15 | . | Jake Hennessey |
| 14 | . | Jake Lloyd |
| 13 | . | Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas |
| 12 | . | Markus Burcham |
| 11 | . | Finn Gilmour |
| 10 | . | Augy Slowik |
| 9 | . | Jordan Burns |
| 1 | . | Archie Holland |
| 2 | . | Billy Harding |
| 3 | . | Andy Boye |
| 4 | . | Tom Stradwick |
| 5 | . | Tex Cavubati |
| 6 | . | Josh Smart |
| 7 | . | Noah Sloot |
| 8 | . | Tom Baldwin (Capt) |
| 16 | . | Alex Witchell |
| 17 | . | Rory Marsh |
| 18 | . | Mike Hoyt |
| 19 | . | George Daly |
| 20 | . | Matt Armstrong |
Graham Cox
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