Photos courtesy of Hayley Sasserath
A sixth bonus point win of the season for Blackheath, and a result which sees the Club leapfrog their opposition and up in to fourth place in National League One.
Although handed the benefit of playing a majority of the contest against 14-men, Blackheath were both sharp and powerful in attack, dominant at the set-piece and, when the time came, resilient enough in defence to make their advantage stick, and inflict on Rams a first home defeat of the campaign.
A brief shower greased up the surface prior to kick off, but the sun re-emerged to grace Old Bath Road, and shone briefly on Rams, as the Berkshire side went through phases following lineout ball, before Zach Clow came up from full-back to glide over for an early try.
It was in the twelfth minute, however, that Rams’ wing Charlie Robson was dismissed for foul play, and although initially seeing ball held up across the goal-line from the resultant lineout, side entry allowed the visitors a second opportunity and Billy Harding successfully grounded.
Jordan Burns spotted a gap around the ruck and although the scrum-half’s pass struck a Rams arm, centre Raff Hollister quickly gathered the loose ball and dived across the goal-line.
Making his second appearance in Club colours, Luke Pollock came off his wing to make a fine break through the midfield, but it was stolen lineout ball that saw Finn Osborne and Will Davis, both back in the pack after injury, make ground before Harding nipped over from the ruck for the hooker’s 14th try in eight games.
A yellow card prior to the interval evened the playing numbers for ten minutes, but twice Rams’ handling let them down to leave the score 19-7 at the break. Still down a man at the re-start, Blackheath struck again, as they put phases together, and Osborne hit Burns’ pass to speed over, Matt Dalrymple adding a third conversion.
Crow struck a 50:22 for the hosts, and Osborne needed to make a try-saving tackle on Rams’ centre Morgan MacRae, dislodging possession in the process, but in a largely attritional second period, Blackheath’s defences held firm and seldom looked likely to be breached.
‘We were very efficient, and stuck to the things we’ve been successful at, which we went away from a bit last week at Moseley,’ said head coach Tom Stradwick. ‘It paid dividends.’
‘Huge credit to Ed Scragg, he calls the lineout brilliantly, and disrupts opposition ball.’
‘The scrum was very good today too, great to see Will Davis back, and when you have the quality of Andy Boye, Rory Marsh, Archie Holland and James Cornish, the depth we have in the front row is outstanding.’
National League rugby takes a break next Saturday, but Blackheath return to action on Saturday 8th November when they welcome the side just one place and one point behind them in the table, Plymouth Albion to Utilita Well Hall.
Kick off is at 3.00 pm
Rams
Tries: Clow 7
Conv: Cooke 7
Blackheath
Tries: Harding 14, 29, Hollister 18, Osborne 41
Conv: Dalrymple 18, 29, 41
Attendance: 702
Blackheath
| 15 | . | Jake Hennessey |
| 14 | . | Jake Lloyd |
| 13 | . | Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas |
| 12 | . | Raff Hollister |
| 11 | . | Luke Pollock |
| 10 | . | Matt Dalrymple |
| 9 | . | Jordan Burns |
| 1 | . | Will Davis |
| 2 | . | Billy Harding (Capt) |
| 3 | . | Andrew Boye |
| 4 | . | Archie Smeaton |
| 5 | . | Ed Scragg |
| 6 | . | Josh Smart |
| 7 | . | Noah Sloot |
| 8 | . | Finn Osborne |
| 16 | . | Archie Bourne |
| 17 | . | Archie Holland |
| 18 | . | Rory Marsh |
| 19 | . | Ben Charnock |
| 20 | . | Kyle McGhie |
Graham Cox
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