Battling OEs bounce back

Blackheath III 26 Old Elthamians 48

After the disappointment of the Medway defeat the previous week, Elthamians returned to winning ways at the Rectory Field, despite playing over half the match with only 14 men.

Young lock Sam Ryan, who has been so instrumental in the Blue & Gold's strong start to the season, was shown a straight red card in the 35th minute for a thunderous and chest-high tackle on the Blackheath full-back which the referee decided was high and dangerous - much to the bemusement of both sets of players it has to be said.

Ryan’s early departure was a major blow to injury-hit Elthamians with the match delicately poised at 15-7 in their favour. He had opened the scoring with a try in the corner on 14 minutes, and after centre Luke Cooper had added a second four minutes later following Max Drysdale’s scorching run through the home midfield, the young lock had turned provider, feeding winger Sam Scott for OEs’ third five pointer on 33 minutes.

In between, the home side pulled a try back from close range after Elthamians had been forced into conceding a string of penalties inside their own 22. And after Ryan’s dismissal, Blackheath ended the first half in the ascendancy when they took full advantage of their extra man with a cross-kick to the corner for their second try of the match.

Despite being a man down, Elthamians will wonder how they only held a slender three-point lead at half-time.
In a fast and loose opening 40 minutes they had dominated the first half hour on the back of a dominant scrum which caused the home side no end of problems all afternoon. But decision-making at times let them down and combined with some uncharacteristic missed tackles, it allowed Blackheath to get a foothold in this end-to-end encounter.

If the home side had sensed momentum shifting towards them following the red card and with everything to play for in the second half, they were stunned by a fourth Elthamians try just three minutes after the restart.

A strong run into the visitors' 22 by hooker Chris Sweet, who was prominent in the loose throughout, ended with centre Mitch Coppard forcing his way over from close range after sustained pressure on the Blackheath line.

The try seemed to temporarily knock the stuffing out of Blackheath as the visitors proceeded to play with far greater discipline and structure with only 14 men on the park. And they stunned the home side with a three-try burst in the space of eight minutes.

First full-back Cam Haines crashed over for his sixth try of the season after lovely inter-play down the left touchline by Coppard and man of the match Callum Lach. Then Drysdale darted over from a quickly taken tapped penalty three minutes later before prop Rhys Boxall bulldozed his way over from two metres out.

Leading 41-12 on the hour and the game opening up, Elthamians looked set to cut loose. Instead, to their credit it was Blackheath who began to take advantage of the wide open spaces, moving the ball wide at every opportunity to stretch the tiring visitors' defence.

They were rewarded for the efforts with a well worked converted try out wide on 65 minutes. But it was only a brief respite as Elthamians hit back immediately with replacement Drey Mclaren crossing after Sam Scott’s darting run.

Blackheath gained a consolation fourth try 10 minutes from the end when they drove over the line from a penalty five metres out, and there was still time for the biggest cheer of the afternoon when OEs’ backs coach Martin Hennessy made his long awaited Elthamians’ 1st team debut after coming on as a 76th minute injury replacement - one month short of his 51st birthday!

Half-time: 12-15
Tries: Ryan, Cooper, Scott, Coppard, Haines, Drysdale, Boxall, McLaren.
Cons: Cole (4)

Elthamians: Pilditch, Sweet, Boxall, Elliott, Ryan, McLintock, Lach, Collins, Drysdale, Cole, Scott, Coppard, Cooper, Watkins, Haines. Subs: White, McLaren, Hennessy.