Blackheath 20 Birmingham Moseley 12

Two tries, a long-range penalty, and a fine kick to touch, all from Leo Fielding, set up victory for Blackheath in this hard-fought contest, played on a damp afternoon and where a gusty cross-field wind played havoc at times with both sides’ kicking.

Not so for the Blackheath wing, however, who drilled a 45-metre penalty through the uprights, with room to spare, in the fourth minute to open the scoring.  That was followed, seven minutes later, with the kick to touch that saw the Club pack gather to drive Harry Bate across for the first try, giving the hosts a lead in excess of a converted score – a cushion they would maintain for the remainder of the contest.

Working off a strong set-piece, Moseley used their big forwards to attempt to bash holes in the Club defence only to come up against some robust tackling, often fierce enough to dislodge possession (notably from Mark Cooke and Markus Burcham).  It wasn’t until the half-hour that the visitors made their first major incursion into the opposition twenty-two, a move which broke down with an infringement in front of the posts, and a close-range line-out drive on the stroke of the interval was repelled and turned, ensuring Blackheath’s hold on their 8-0 advantage through to the break.

CJ Osazuwa took clean line-out ball for Blackheath on 46 minutes, and as the pack once again drove forward, Joe Tarrant’s lofted pass found Fielding in enough space to walk across the goal-line for the first of his tries.

A mistake from Blackheath at the line-out on the hour at last got Moseley on the scoreboard, tight-head Jay Tyack collecting the loose ball before scrum-half Sam Brown sent left-wing Mark Harrison squeezing across by the corner flag.

However, although Tarrant’s punt over the defensive line only had Danny Herriott in pursuit, it was enough to force the West Midlanders to carry the ball across their own line to concede a five-metre put-in.  This time it was Burcham’s lobbed pass that found Fielding out wide, the wing sliding over for his second score.

Tarrant added the conversion to put the result beyond doubt, and although number-eight Ciaran Moore drove over for Moseley at the death, it did little to dampen James Shanahan’s delight over his side’s win.

‘Professional,’ said the Club’s head coach.

‘Obviously difficult conditions, and Moseley had a plan to drive us around the field, but our scrum was outstanding, particularly with Danny Herriott back at tight-head.’

‘It meant they had to play a bit more rugby than they intended, on which we capitalised and came away with a comfortable win.’

Blackheath travel to Hertfordshire next Saturday to take on Old Albanian.  Kick off at Woollams Playing Fields is at 3.00 pm.

The following week the Club travel to Darlington Mowden Park before returning to Well Hall for the visit of Esher.

Blackheath

Tries:   Bate, Fielding 2

Conv:  Tarrant

Pens:    Fielding

Birmingham Moseley

Tries:   Harrison, Moore

Conv:  Dixon