Blackheath Rugby

Sedgley Park V Blackheath 28/1/2012 Match Preview

Blackheath travel to Manchester to face Sedgley Park Tigers this Saturday. Kick off at Park Lane, Whitefield is at 2.30pm.

This could be an extremely hard-fought and close encounter. Tigers are 2 places below Blackheath in the league but only 5 points behind. They have won 10 games and lost 10, which compares very closely with Club’s record of won 10, drawn 1 and lost 9. They have scored a similar number of tries, with Club slightly ahead 69 to 64, but Blackheath’s defence is the stronger, with 61 tries conceded to Park’s 79.

Tigers, of course, will enjoy home advantage but this has not given them much of an edge over Blackheath in recent seasons. Since they were relegated to National 1 in 2009, Club have won both encounters at Park Lane. In January 2010, in their first ever visit, Club came from behind with tries from Danny Caprice, Jack Knight and Tyson Lewis to win the game in the thickening fog. Last season, the visitors were firmly in control before the home side scored two late tries to put a gloss on the scoreline. Lewis again provided a pivotal try, in the middle of a brace from Dave Allen.

In both of those seasons, Tigers were to avoid relegation with some good results late in the campaign. Their status was still in doubt right up to the last weekend of matches last term. But this time round they have had a better campaign from the off, beating Cambridge away from home on the first day, and they look like avoiding the scrap at the bottom.

Their best results have generally come against the teams from the bottom half of the table, including wins at Wharfedale, Blaydon, Coventry and Birmingham, over whom they completed a league double last weekend. At Park Lane, they have not won since 3rd December, when they beat Barking 23 – 8, but before that, home wins have come at the expense of Stourbridge, Cinderford and Tynedale.

When these teams met at the Rectory Field in October, Club completed a fourth consecutive league win in an excellent match in which the visitors took the result right down to the wire, and Club had to hold on at the end with 13 men on the pitch.

Blackheath started on top with tries from Dave Allen and Simon Legg but Tigers’ big pack was a threat all day in the loose and their backs hit the line with pace to create chances, 3 of which were taken in the first half for a 20 – 17 lead at the break.

Blackheath decisively improved in the third quarter, scoring 4 tries to build an unbeatable lead through Stephenson, Canty, Cleverly and another for Dave Allen.

Both teams achieved maximum points from last week’s matches, Tigers’ win at Bees came after the home side stormed into an early lead with 2 scores, the visitors ultimately pulling back to lead 12 – 15 at half time before cracking on in the second half with 3 unanswered tries to secure an emphatic win 15 – 32.

Blackheath put the losses against Cinderford and Wharfedale firmly behind them with an outstanding first half against Stourbridge, who look increasingly like a side who only get going when Liam Wordley (complete with creative facial hair and mullet hair-do) comes to the party. Blackheath’s forwards’ reputation naturally goes before them but Club’s backs were as good as they have been for some time, the flow and the tackling much improved by the restoration of Richard Windsor and the presence of Mike Canty at full back. New man Dave Bonner also made an impressive debut in the centre.

Performance Director Yusuf Ibrahim expects a very tough battle in this match: 'They are very physical and very direct and they are a very good side with some excellent players. Their pack is huge. We've always done well there but we're not complacent, we're expecting it to be tough. But they have a wide pitch and if we can win the battle up fronbt, it will be interesting to see whether our backs can play as well as they did last week and win away fo the first time since October.'

The weather forecast is for a sunny cold day with little wind.

The referee is Mr Karl Kilpatrick and the touch judges are Mr Tudor Griffiths and Mr David Crooks.

If you are not travelling to Manchester this Saturday, don’t forget that you can keep up to date with match reports from our touchline reporter, the always-excellent Graham Cox on BBC Radio Kent.


Blackheath Team News

Blackheath make two changes to the side that played so well against Strourbridge. The Club pack is unchanged but in the backs, Jack Walsh picked up a knock in that match and is out for the week, so Ben Ibrahim comes in at scrum half. James Stephenson returns on the wing.

Tom Chapman is away playing a trial match for England U20’s so good luck to him with that nd James Cleverly is on loan at Saracens this weekend and will be oin the bench for them in their LDV Cup game against Worcester so all the best to him for that one too.

This necessitates some changes on the bench. Adam Gelman is the prop replacement and Adam Armstrong returns after being un-available last week.

Blackheath First XV V Sedgley Park AWAY 28th January 2012

15. Mike Canty
14. Richard Lankshear
13. Dave Bonner
12. Richard Windsor
11. James Stephenson
10. Sam Windsor
9. Ben Ibrahim
1. Simon Legg
2. Gavin O’Meara
3. Des Brett
4. Tom Bason (C)
5. Tom Stradwick
6. Richard Pike
7. Dave Allen
8. James Catt

Replacements:
16. Adam Gelman
17. Charlie Woodall
18. Truman Sullivan
19. Pete Squires
20. Adam Armstrong


Around the Grounds by Saturnate

Following the news this week from Cambridge, they host Coventry in what was always going to be a difficult but winnable contest, as both teams recent form has been poor (two wins from the last seven).

Cambridge's problems seem to stem from a porous defence, whilst Coventry's seem to derive from difficulties with scoring. The two teams also have contrasting styles of play, with the Blood and Sand generally adopting a run it from everywhere expansive game, compared to Coventry's tighter game plan. With the loss of key players for Cambridge and the necessary reorganisation that this will entail, the advantage may well be handed to the visitors, but teams often play their best in the face of adversity.

Following last weekend's games, Jersey managed to open up a five point lead at the head of the table with a gritty win over Cinderford, whilst their two nearest opponents both lost at home. Jersey will be looking to reinforce their position at the top of the league when they go to Yorkshire to meet a Wharfedale team smarting after their loss to Ealing.

After losing at home last week, Fylde will be keen to take maximum points when they visit the East end, and a Barking team who have now lost their last ten games, but who do have a perverse way of being giant killers and will be looking to emulate their away win over Fylde earlier in the season.

Cinderford entertain Rosslyn Park, the home side have been a changed team since Christmas and after gaining a losing bonus point last week have managed to build an eleven point gap between themselves and the relegation places. Park, like Fylde, will be looking to keep the pressure on Jersey after the loss in their last outing.

Birmingham and Solihull travel up to meet Blaydon in what should be a titanic battle between two of the leagues best tight fives. Ealing will be looking to continue their return to winning ways, after a poor period either side of the New Year, with a journey to Stourbridge, who in turn need wins to climb out of the relegation places.

Finally, on-form Macclesfield, with the Mulchrones to the fore, will be looking for revenge at Tynedale after their 5-29 loss in early October at home. Dale are once again looking like a difficult team to beat at home.


And Finally…

Cambridge Rugby have parted company with their coach Bob Crooks and leading players Darren Fox, Ben Cooper, Toby Berridge, Tom Wheatcroft and Ian Ashcroft-Leigh, after the club terminated their contracts at a week’s notice on Monday. More players may leave in the near future.

The club have run out of money to pay the players’ contracts, a situation which chairman Steve Bowller says ‘did not come out of the blue to those at the pointy end’ of the club, but which has been greeted with astonishment and dismay by the players, who were apparently given no indication that there was a problem.

A similar exodus occurred at the club in 2010 when a financial backer walked out. At that time Cambridge narrowly avoided being wound-up by HMRC after a debt of £225,000 came to light.

The question now has to be, have they already attained enough points this season in National 1 to survive without the heart of their side? We shall see.

Left Hand Top Terrace

Photo: On his 200th Cap, Leggy celebrates the victory over Stourbridge: Courtesy of Warren King Photography