Cambridge 68 Blackheath 14

Sometimes you come up against a side who hit all the right buttons on the day, unable to put a foot wrong, and certainly Cambridge, who would have been stung by their narrow defeat at Tynedale last week which put a dent in their promotion prospects, were in that kind of mood on this day.

Racking up a total of ten tries, seven of which came in the first period, they looked a class apart from Blackheath with half-backs Stef Leibenberg and James Shanahan running the show, dummying and creating space and overlaps out wide which saw them go 21-0 up after just 14 minutes with two scores from full-back Tom Wheatcroft and a third through wing Johannes Schmidt.

Blackheath shone briefly mid-first half. Full-back Paul Humphries just failed with a long-range penalty but as the visitors at last got some sustained possession, James Catt, playing at number-eight, drove towards the goal-line before ball was re-cycled for centre Richard Windsor to pile over for a try. Club pressure was kept up but two lightning breakaways from the hosts led to a try for Liebenberg, quickly followed by the completion of Wheatcroft's hat-trick snuffing out any hope of a revival. More carnage followed during which Cambridge continued to off-load with perfection, players hitting the ball at pace. Schmidt completed a four try haul early in the second period before being replaced by James Hinkins who helped himself to a late effort, while Craig Evans slotted nine conversions, the centre hardly inconvenienced by some of them being out on the touch-line.

Positives for Blackheath? They kept going to the very end and were rewarded by a second try through Humphries, Windsor once again demonstrated how much he had been missed during the early games, and it must be remembered that five of the starting line-up are 20 years of age or younger. But that youth is exposing naivety, particularly in defence, and Director of Rugby Yusuf Ibrahim will look forward to some more experienced heads coming back from injury soon.

Blackheath return to Rectory Field to face Launceston in a 3.00 pm kick-off next Saturday.

Scorers: Cambridge Tries: Wheatcroft 3, Schmidt 4, Liebenberg, Cooper, Hinkins. Conv: Evans 9. Blackheath Tries: Windsor, Humphries. Conv: Humphries 2.