Blackheath 25 Chinnor 15 – Club end five-game wait for a win in National League 1
BY GRAHAM COX
A first win in five matches for Blackheath, and a second-half performance that electrified Well Hall, such was the pace and energy exhibited by the hosts.
All against a huge Chinnor pack that had the Club on the back foot at times, notably on 18 minutes when a 20-metre drive took the visitors close to the goal-line, and led to the ball being slipped wide for right-wing Kieran Goss to open the scoring.
Nevertheless, Blackheath had already shown good intent after Freddie Owen had stolen an early Chinnor lineout and the excellent Harry Dugmore, making his home debut at blind-side, drove opposition off their own ruck, and now the Club’s response was immediate.
As Dugmore clattered opposition flanker Ben Manning on the twenty-two, Jake Lloyd made ground on the right flank before popping up again in midfield, the wing exploiting a gaping hole to ground under the uprights.
Pack power came to the fore again as Manning was driven across for Chinnor’s second try. But as Blackheath picked and drove close to the goal-line, the visitors came off-side, allowing Jake Hennessey to add a penalty to the fly-half’s earlier conversion to make it 10-10 at the break.
Markus Burcham, making his return to Well Hall, broke across halfway, Harry Holland made a dent in midfield, and Marcus Kershaw juggled, before offloading to Lloyd, who found another open gangway to the posts to complete a brace on his 150th Club appearance.
Chinnor weren’t done and although the strong wind, which had been to the hosts’ advantage prior to the interval, had dropped, a penalty to touch and another mighty drive saw the gap narrowed to two points, as number-eight Fred Tuilagi touched down for the visitors.
The decisive moment came close to the hour mark. As Owen took play into Chinnor territory, and Ollie Claxton marshalled his side through the phases, Burcham’s inside ball sent Hennessey away for an unconverted score.
Blackheath had to dig deep in defence, and Kershaw showed pace before making an outstanding tackle to deny what might have been an outstanding breakaway score for Goss, after the wing had showed neat footballing skills to collect scrum-half Luke Carter’s opportunistic crossfield kick from his own try-line.
Harry Fry, who hit five successful lineouts to drive play up field on his 101st and final Club appearance, sparked new life and a final Hennessey penalty for off-side made sure.
Blackheath travel to the Northern Echo Arena for their re-arranged match with Darlington Mowden Park on Saturday (kick-off 6.15 pm) and remain on the road a week later when they head to Cambridge.
Their next match at Well Hall is on Saturday February 19 against Tonbridge Juddian.
