Blackheath 34 Macclesfield 0.

Comfortable enough in the end, but a frustrating opening period for Blackheath in a game which struggled for life for a full 37 minutes until Mike Canty scored the first of his two tries that put the Club on course for this five try victory against struggling Macclesfield.

Since returning to National League One at the first time of asking after relegation in 2013, Macclesfield have had a wretched time of it, losing their first eight games with not even a losing bonus point to their name. Nevertheless, the Blues arrived at Rectory Field with a record of two wins from three visits, the memory of a decent showing against Coventry back in Cheshire a week earlier and, at least for the first period, a scrum that belied their position at the foot of the league table. Indeed, the very first Club set-piece saw ball turned over and this, as well as their propensity to lose possession going forward, limited the hosts to a ninth minute Alex Gallagher penalty for virtually the entirety of the opening period.

However, despite their mighty scrum, and some good defence of the rolling maul, Macclesfield offered little in terms of penetration and, with Blackheath making most of the running, it gave some relief to the home crowd when line-out ball was moved swiftly, Markus Burcham and Dave Allen made the dents in the Blues’ defences, and Gallagher’s long pass found Canty in space out wide for the first try.

It was Canty’s second score after the re-start that really started to light up the afternoon though. This time the ever-industrious Richard Pike was responsible for making the hard yards in the centre of the field, before Jake Bedding released the Club full-back from inside his half to show electric pace and round the defence to cross in the corner. And when George Oram also showed a burst of speed to cut an angle through the Blues’ midfield, and follow up with a lovely off-load for Gallagher to crash over on 56 minutes, there was only destined to be one winner of the contest.

Still the four-try bonus needed to be salvaged, and it was Oram who duly obliged. Once again, ball moved quickly away from the line-out was the catalyst, and as Richard Windsor broke towards the corner, play came back infield for the second-row to shrug off some tired tackling and score next to the uprights.

And, arguably, the best was left till last. With Stefan North’s appearance shoring up the Club scrum, Pike again made yardage, laying the ball back neatly for Harry Shepherd, on as fly-half replacement, to switch the play from left to right. Burcham and Chris Sewell took play forward, before the back-row debutant’s one-handed off-load found Ryan Squires to race across and complete the move. Next Saturday Blackheath make the short journey to Esher in Surrey. Kick off at Molesey Road is 3.00 pm.

Blackheath.

Tries: Canty 2, Gallagher, Oram, Squires.

Conv: Gallagher, Shepherd 2.

Pens: Gallagher.