The saga of ‘will it or won’t it be on, and where might it be,’ continued late in to the build-up to this National League One Kent derby.
Three days earlier, most of The Slade, which sits on the flood plain of the River Medway, had become part of Kent’s major waterway, an ongoing dilemma which had forced Tonbridge Juddian to move their two previous home matches to the all-weather surface at Judds school across town.
Fortunately, the threatened Friday night deluge amounted to little, TJs’ ground staff excelled in preparing a playing surface, albeit some ten-minutes’ walk from the clubhouse, and even the sun came out to make it a pleasantly warm January afternoon.
The sun shone on TJs early on. With Raff Hollister exiting for an aerial challenge on Duncan Tout in the first minute, the hosts soon created the overlap for centre Shadyn Osgood to send wing Tom Kendrick sprinting over in the right corner, scrum-half Connor Lloyd adding a fine conversion despite the heavy surface.
Nevertheless, restored to full strength, it was Blackheath who would take a firm grip, the Club amassing their 31-points in as few minutes without reply as their scrum and lineout dominated.
A Sam Morley penalty for a high tackle was quickly followed by the visitors’ first try, as Billy Harding picked up a loose bobbling ball and, evading defenders, sent Hollister across for the right-wing to make amends for his earlier misdemeanour.
TJs were offered the opportunity to exit from defence when a kick to touch went dead, but Ed Scragg charged-down the clearance, before the Club second-row dived on the loose ball in the corner.
A scrum penalty offered another scoring opportunity, only for the ball to be held up across the goal-line from the lineout drive, but as the visitors kept up the assault with time ticking past 40-minutes, Luke Pollock’s short pass allowed Harding to slip through a gap for yet another try for the Club hooker and skipper, his 34th of the campaign.
There was hesitation from TJs at the re-start, while Pollock reacted quickly, the outside-centre collecting Morley’s kick on the bounce and slithering across the sticky surface for a try within ten seconds of the start of the second period, and with Morley adding a fourth conversion, Blackheath led 31-7.
However, with Scragg yellow carded for a clumsy challenge, the Club’s set-piece began to lose its earlier dominance, and although Josh Smart and Noah Sloot continued to slow TJs’ possession, Archie Smeaton excelled at number-eight, and Tom Hughes came off the bench to show strength in the tackle, it was the hosts who began to assert the pressure.
As the penalties began to mount against the visitors, Ash Graham peeled off a maul to score, and the TJs hooker added his second, also from lineout ball with nine minutes remaining.
The hosts looked for the try that would have given them two league points, but Blackheath’s defence held firm, Smeaton’s turnover in the dying moments denying them.
National League rugby takes a break next weekend, but Blackheath return to action with back-to-back home games.
Birmingham Moseley arrive at The Utilita on 14th February, followed by Rams a week later, both matches kicking off at 3.00 pm.
Tonbridge Juddian
Tries: Kendrick 7, Graham 61, 72
Conv: Lloyd 7, 72
Blackheath
Tries: Hollister 15, Scragg 22, Harding 40, Pollock 41
Conv: Morley 15, 22, 40, 41
Pens: Morley13
Attendance: 312
| 15 | . | Ed Dunford |
| 14 | . | Raff Hollister |
| 13 | . | Luke Pollock |
| 12 | . | Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas |
| 11 | . | Jake Hennessey |
| 10 | . | Sam Morley |
| 9 | . | Kyle McGhie |
| 1 | . | Archie Holland |
| 2 | . | Billy Harding (Capt) |
| 3 | . | Rory Marsh |
| 4 | . | Fin O’Sullivan |
| 5 | . | Ed Scragg |
| 6 | . | Josh Smart |
| 7 | . | Noah Sloot |
| 8 | . | Archie Smeaton |
| 16 | . | Archie Bourne |
| 17 | . | James Cornish |
| 18 | . | Tom Johnson |
| 19 | . | Jordan Burns |
| 20 | . | Tom Hughes |
Graham Cox
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