The opening match of the 2026/27 Elior Champ Rugby season saw Blackheath’s twelve-match winning run, which had gained them promotion from National League One, brought to a soggy end at Lady Bay Sports Ground.
The statistics will show that the Club matched Nottingham’s five tries, and only the faultless goal-kicking of Shane O’Leary on this wet and gusty Friday night on the River Trent separated the sides.
Indeed, Nottingham’s pivotal player was a class act, not just in converting all 13-points available to the fly-half, but also for his line-kicking and game-management, but it was the sheer pace and slickness of the East Midlanders that saw them rack up 24-unanswered points around the interval and that swayed the outcome.
It is, therefore, huge credit to Blackheath’s character and resilience, with six debutants in their 23-man squad, that they fought back in the final quarter, bringing themselves within a converted score of levelling the contest.
Nottingham’s great handling and power out wide was evident straight away as centre Morgan Adderly-Jones found a lovely off-load to send Matty Ward over in the left corner on three minutes.
Luke Pollock crashed through the midfield, and Jordan Burns showed his own exceptional pace, the Club scrum-half evading defenders to bring the visitors level, before Billy Harding went over from lineout following a Nottingham yellow card.
Ward squeezed over for the wing’s second try, only for Noah Sloot to respond again for Blackheath as they picked and drove their way into a narrow lead.
Short-lived though, with an O’Leary penalty followed by the conversion for a try for second-row Will Ramply, giving Nottingham a 24-17 interval lead, and as centre Charlie Davies spotted a gap for loose-head Oran Murphy to cross, and Davies himself broke through some tiring tackling, the hosts stretched to a 21-point advantage on 53 minutes.
However, if Blackheath looked short of match-practice out wide, they more than held their own in the tight phases, and fortified by the arrival of Archie Holland and James Cornish off the bench claimed a penalty try as Nottingham collapsed the maul, conceding a second yellow card in the process.
Jake Hennessey also injected some inventiveness, the Club wing showing deft footballing skills down the right flank before popping up in midfield to receive the scoring pass from Sam Morley, not only providing Blackheath with a losing bonus point, but keeping the game on edge to the finish.
Blackheath take to the field next week with another Friday night fixture as they host Caldy in the Champ at The Utilita Well Hall. Kick off is at 7.45 pm.
Nottingham
Tries: Ward 3, 18, Rampley 40, Murphy 48, Davies 53
Conv: O’Leary 3, 18, 40, 48, 53
Pens: O’Leary 38
Blackheath
Tries: Burns 8, Harding 15, Sloot 31, Penalty 61, Hennessey 72
Conv: Morley 8, 72
Attendance: 1,376
| 15 | . | Iwan Price-Thomas |
| 14 | . | Tom Hughes |
| 13 | . | Luke Pollock |
| 12 | . | Kegan Christian-Goss |
| 11 | . | Noah Ferdinand |
| 10 | . | Sam Morley |
| 9 | . | Jordan Burns |
| 1 | . | Seb Brownhill |
| 2 | . | Bill Harding (Capt) |
| 3 | . | Rory Marsh |
| 4 | . | Ehize Ehizode |
| 5 | . | Ed Scragg |
| 6 | . | Josh Smart |
| 7 | . | Noah Sloot |
| 8 | . | Archie Smeaton |
| 16 | . | Archie Bourne |
| 17 | . | Archie Holland |
| 18 | . | James Cornish |
| 19 | . | Mike Etete |
| 20 | . | Harry Taylor |
| 21 | . | Kyle McGhie |
| 22 | . | Ed Dunford |
| 23 | . | Jake Hennessey |
Graham Cox
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