National 1

Rosslyn Park succumbed to their first defeat of the season at home to Blackheath. The home side fought hard, but struggled to break down a resilient Blackheath side, who surged to their second win in as many games.

The visitors were clinical in attack and were relatively untroubled defensively by a Rosslyn Park side that failed to muster any real try-scoring opportunities.

Blackheath started brightly at The Rock, following their narrow win over Plymouth last week.


Line-out ball

A series of quick phases pushed them deep into Rosslyn Park’s 22, with open side flanker, Harry Bate, muscling over to score after just two minutes. Fly half, Joe Tarrant, knocked over the conversion.

Rosslyn Park pulled back with a penalty during a promising spell for the home side.

However, despite some encouraging work from Benji Marfo on the right wing, they failed to capitalise on their territorial advantage.

The sides traded penalties and with the score at 6-10 Rosslyn Park hooker, Adam Bellamy, showed a good turn of speed to race through the Blackheath defence, only to misplace a pass that allowed the visitors to counter.

Stopped just shy of the try line, Blackheath went through the phases, sucking in defenders and kept their composure, with Tarrant going over in the corner, giving the visitors a healthy 17-6 lead at half time.

The heavens opened during the interval, and the second half was a scrappy, low-scoring affair, as both sets of players struggled with the wet ball.

Tarrant looked increasingly lively for the away side, dancing through the Rosslyn Park defence early in the second period.

But a missed penalty a few minutes later prevented him from extending his side’s advantage.

Rosslyn Park spent more time in their opponent’s 22 as the half wore on, but were unable to break down Blackheath’s impressive defence.
Penalties at the scrum and handling errors cost the home side as they pushed for a try.

Another Tarrant penalty left Rosslyn Park needing two scores and in the closing moments, an error in their own 22 allowed Freddie Owen to sneak in for a third try in the corner.

Tarrant missed the conversion, but completed the game with 15 points to his name.

Rosslyn Park travel to Esher next weekend, while Blackheath host Ampthill.

SCORERS
Pens: Leonard (11, 32)


Rosslyn Park (15-9, 1-8): Robinson, Marfo, Henderson, Barnes, Weir, Leonard, Crow, Nwakor, Bellamy, Maguire, Frampton, Gray, Taggart, Hudson, Spencer.
Replacements: Gibson, Wade, Thomas, Gash, Grove.

Dom Shabbo

Images: David E Whittam

September 11, 2017