Blackheath 44 Cinderford 10

A rousing victory for Blackheath who were seldom troubled in this seven tries to two win, Cinderford only posing any serious threat in the ten minutes leading up to the interval.

After the disappointment of letting a decent lead slip away at Blaydon the previous week, the hosts couldn't have wished for a better opening as eleven of their 20-man squad made their home debuts.  A loose pass neatly snaffled by Markus Burcham in the visitors' twenty-two saw Tom Chapman squeeze across in the right corner, and ball spread across field, following Gregor Gillanders’ pilfering of a Cinderford line-out, handed the right-wing a second for a 12-0 lead after just four minutes.

James Catt drove over from the base of a 20-metre maul for a converted try, following clean line-out ball, and Markus Burcham glided across after more turned over possession, and a break from Tom Ellis, doubling Blackheath's tally by the 24th minute.

Some nice handling and tight passing created a try for Cinderford's replacement front-row Luke Cole in response, and the Gloucestershiremen lay siege to the Club goal-line prior to the break.  But Dave Allen's turnover relieved the danger, and within five minutes of the re-start the open-side himself had extended Blackheath's advantage further, having been driven across from a close-range line-out.

As Blackheath's set-piece continued to dominate, Freddie Gabbitass kicked a penalty, Terry Read popped up on the shoulder of the excellent Gillanders for try number six, and Mark Briant added a seventh, touching down his own grubber-kick as Cinderford floundered, before hooker Davy McGregor gave the visitors the last word, driving across from a line-out.

‘It was a pleasing performance and reward for all the hard work we put in during training this week after the disappointing last half hour at Bladon,’ said director of rugby Colin Ridgway.

‘But I feel we left a lot of points out there on the field unscored, so there’s still a lot to work on before we head for Henley next Saturday.’ 

Henley Hawks against Blackheath at Dry Leas is a 3.00 pm kick-off.

Blackheath

Tries:    Chapman 2, Catt, Burcham, Allen, Read, Briant
Conv:    Gabbitass 3
Pens:    Gabbitass

Cinderford

Tries:    Cole, McGregor