October 14, 2023
Round 7 in National League One saw a match-up between 4th and 3rd, with both sides having won 4 of their opening 6 games.
Blackheath were unexpectedly relegated at the end of the 2021/22 season but spent only one season in National League 2 East, and returned to National League One as champions. Their 4 wins so far this season have been 36-33 at Taunton, 34-3 at Leicester Lions and home wins over Darlington Mowden Park ( 43-13 ) and Cinderford ( 52-12 ). Their two defeats were at the hands of Bishop’s Stortford ( 27-31 at home ) and at Sale ( 14-19 )
The form book would suggest a fairly close encounter today, with both teams having been victorious at home over DMP and Cinderford, although Chinnor were comfortable winners at home to Sale whereas Blackheath lost away from home.
Founded in 1858, Blackheath are the oldest open rugby club in the world, although some University and College sides had been formed earlier. They are universally referred to as “The Club” or just “Club”. They moved from their historic home of Rectory Field in 2016, to Well Hall in Eltham, although their other sides continue to play at Rectory Field. In the amateur era, Blackheath were one of the leading sides in England.
Since these diaries reported on Chinnor’s 48-12 win over Cinderford, they followed up with an impressive 48-21 victory at Rosslyn Park for their first away win of the season, and would be looking to maintain their 100% home record today.
Previous Meetings
These two sides have met 5 times before in League matches. Blackheath won both meetings in 2018/19, 33-22 at Chinnor and 22-14 at home but in the one game in the Covid interrupted 2019/20 season, Chinnor edged home 17-15 at Well Hall. In 2021/22 honours were even with two home wins, 34-28 for Chinnor and 25-15 for Blackheath.
The 34-28 win for Chinnor was covered by these diaries.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2021/10/chinnor-34-28-blackheath-att-tbc.html
Played in torrential rain in early October, Blackheath persisted in a strategy of kicking away possession but Chinnor’s back three comfortably dealt with the aerial assault and returned it with interest to build a 28-0 lead after 65 minutes. Eventually, Blackheath changed tack and allowed their backs to see the ball, and they ran in 4 tries to claim the try bonus point and brought the margin of defeat back to 28-33 to also take a losing point.
Matchday Information
The Blackheath starting XV included 5 players who had played in that last meeting at Kingsey Road, namely three-quarters Jake Lloyd and Jake Hennessey, locks Tom Stradwick and Ed Taylor plus hooker Ollie Walliker. Ex-Richmond fly-half Tom Ffitch was their leading points scorer with 60 points, whilst scrum-half Jack Daley and Hennessey had both scored 4 tries each. Ex-Chinnor full-back Leo Fielding was absent from the Club matchday squad.
The line-up for Chinnor featured 8 players who had started back in 2021/22, one of which, James Bourton, was their top points scorer so far with 39 points, whilst fellow centre Morgan Passman topped their try scoring charts with 5.
The weather at the 15.00 kick-off time was sunny intervals, with a gentle breeze but the temperature was a chilly 11 degrees. It was time for the scarf and overcoat for the first time this autumn !
Match Report
Chinnor kicked off and the clearing kick was returned to near half-way. Blackheath infringed at the line-out, enabling Chinnor to kick to 5 metres. However, Blackheath defended the rolling maul well, and when Chinnor were forced to engage their backs, Pressman knocked on in the tackle.
Chinnor’s indiscipline led to a series of penalties as Blackheath slowly progressed from their 22 to Chinnor’s 22, and eventually they opted to go to the posts, The penalty from Ffitch gave them an early 0-3 advantage.
Chinnor immediately won possession from the restart and a long pass gave Browning the opportunity to score in the opposite corner and running around close to the posts to make the conversion easier, and the extras from Bourton made the score 7-3 after 9 minutes.
Four minutes later Chinnor wing Kieran Goss made a strong run down the left wing, and after being tackled close to the Blackheath 22, he offloaded to Clementson, and after a pass to Feeney a simple pass to Browning gave the on-loan Leicester Tiger a simple run to the corner to touch down. With the conversion from out wide sliding wide it was now 12-3 after 13 minutes.
Blackheath responded by winning a penalty and kicking to the corner, and although they butchered the line-out by throwing long, Chinnor knocked on. The Blackheath scrum first had to be re-set after being wheeled, and at the second attempt, a penalty was awarded to Chinnor as the front rows collapsed.
With 23 minutes on the clock, Browning went on a marauding run through the centre of the Club defence, and after a number of forward carries, prop Hardwick dived over for the home side’s third try. The conversion was again missed so the score remained at 17-3.
Three minutes later Bourton went through a huge gap in the visitors’ defensive line, and with a 3 on 1 his overhead pass was knocked on 10 yards from the try line by Passman when a try looked inevitable.
Blackheath then dropped the ball midway in their own half, and Ryan picked up and drove into the visitors’ 22 and won a penalty. The ball was kicked for a 5 metre lineout, but Blackheath defended well and won a penalty to clear their lines.
With 33 minutes played, Chinnor scrum-half Carter found a gap at the base of a ruck to break from half-way to head for the try line but has halted inches short of the whitewash, and then infringed in his efforts to keep the move going.
Chinnor continued to keep play in the Blackheath half and fly-half Smith broke through the Blackheath defensive line, but his pass to Bourton saw the centre forced into touch 5 metres short of the line.
The wind was now increasing and it was starting to get very cold as Chinnor held up a rolling maul as Blackheath attempted to move out of their 22. However, the Club defence continued to be good as they won another penalty. The half finished with Chinnor lock Merrick stealing a Blackheath line-out but the move ended with a knock-on, with the referee blowing for the interval.
At half-time the home side would have felt they should have been leading by a far greater margin than 17-3 as two or three great chances has been wasted, and Blackheath had scarcely been into the opposition half.
The pattern of play continued at the start of the second half. Chinnor won a scrum penalty and were soon with a line-out 7 metres out. A series of drives were held up, but only at the expense of another penalty, from which Merrick won the 5 metre line-out, fed Clementson who crashed over the try-line. Smith took over kicking duties and his successful conversion took the score to 24-3.
Blackheath full-back Dalrymple made a good break but after feeding Bell, the substitute winger was bundled into touch near half-way. The visitors then infringed on their own 10 metre line after several fruitless attempts to breach the Chinnor defensive line, and after kicking to 5 metres, Merrick again won the line-out. The Chinnor pack made several drives towards the try-line but were repelled, forcing Chinnor to go wide, and a long pass saw Browning barge over past a couple of would be tackles. Smith missed the conversion from the touch-line so the score moved to 29-3 after 51 minutes.
Blackheath won a penalty at the restart and kicked deep into the Chinnor 22. However, there was no way through, forcing wing Lloyd to chip ahead, which the Chinnor defence touched down for a drop-out from their own try-line.
With 55 minutes played, Chinnor kicked long and Club full-back Dalrymple saw his attempted clearing kick charged down. The home pack swarmed all over the ball, and after a couple of flamboyant passes amongst the backs, Browning was put clear to run in at the corner for his fourth try of the game. Smith’s attempted conversion embarrassingly scuttled along the ground so it was now 34-3.
The restart didn’t go 10 metres, and from the Chinnor scrum the ball was spread amongst the backs to the left for substitute Josh Gillespie to race home from 40 metres down the left-hand touchline with his first touch of the ball. Bourton resumed kicking duties but again the difficult conversion was missed to take the score to 39-3 after 66 minutes.
Blackheath brought a halt to the one-way traffic as the ball popped out from a Chinnor scrum and scrum-half Daly pounced on the ball ahead of his opposite number, and after a few forward drives, the ball was released by Ffitch to wing Chris Bell, who darted over out wide. The difficult conversion was missed, but the score was now 39-8 with around 15 minutes left.
The visitors were again pinned into their 22, forcing full-back Dalrymple to make an ambitious cross-field kick to Bell who gathered and made an off-load, but Blackheath infringed at the subsequent ruck and play was back at the 5 metre line with a Chinnor line-out. The giant Merrick again claimed and fed Ryan, who crashed over. With the conversion in front of the posts, Bourton was successful as the score moved to 46-8 with 12 minutes remaining.
There then occurred a whole series of errors from both sides. After Chinnor were penalised for offside near the half-way line for Blackheath to kick into the Chinnor 22. Club spread the ball wide from the line-out but the pass from Ffitch was too high for Lloyd. Chinnor fly-hacked clear but Blackheath re-gathered, but the chip ahead was dropped by a Chinnor player, only for Club to kick directly into touch. Blackheath then stole the line-out only to kick the ball dead.
With 8 minutes remaining Blackheath won a scrum penalty which they took quickly, only to lose the turnover ball at the ruck. Passman bulldozered through three would be tackles and off-loaded to Gillespie to run in unopposed. Bourton’s conversion took the score to 53-8 with 74 minutes played.
Club continued to try and play an expansive game, but a pass from Ffitch was intercepted by Browning, who needed three Blackheath players to bring him down. Carter chipped ahead but Hennessey was covering and won the penalty as Carter played the man on the floor.
There was still time for Chinnor flanker George Stokes to be shown a yellow card for a no-arms tackle, but the visitors were unable to take advantage of the extra man in the final 30 seconds.
At the final whistle, Chinnor had recorded a thumping victory over the third placed side in the table, but it was difficult to tell if they had played exceptionally well, or had Blackheath been very poor. Club rarely got into the Chinnor 22 but did defend very well against the constant wave of attacks. It was probably a combination of both.
With the win Chinnor moved up to second place in the table, whilst Blackheath slipped down to 6th.
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