Blackheath are league’s best defence says Hogg
SIX wins out of seven keep Blackheath on a roll and challenging at the top of National One, though this won’t be remembered as a classic.
Indeed this was a match punctuated by numerous errors and penalties conceded by both sides, but it was Old Albanian who ended up paying the higher price.
“It felt like any mistake that we made was punished severely,” said Albanian head coach Gavin Hogg.
“We felt we had the lion’s share of possession, but didn’t get any reward for it. That’s probably the best defence we’ve come up against so far this season which shut us down really well in the centre.
“They were very competitive at the breakdown which stopped us getting any forward momentum.”
Sure enough, Blackheath’s defence was heavily tested, but only after the club had taken the initiative with two early tries.
As OAs conceded three penalties in the opening four minutes, Tom Baldwin was driven across from lineout ball for the first score.
And with Leo Fielding coming into the three-quarter line from full-back following a scrum on halfway Jake Lloyd crossed for a second, Joe Tarrant adding both conversions from out wide for a 14-0 lead.
Tom Bednall responded with a long-range penalty as the hosts were penalised for holding on, but even a succession of lineouts close to the hosts’ goal-line brought no return for the visitors. The Albanian scrum was also solid, but with Josh Davies and Tarrant marshalling from half-back the Blackheath defence held firm.
A breakaway move shortly before the interval was thwarted as Markus Burcham and Mark Cooke, both superb in midfield, mopped up the danger.
The second period followed in a similar pattern as Blackheath opened with a three-try burst.
A fumble at the restart handed Blackheath a scrum from which Tarrant found a gap to slip over, and the bonus-point try came as another penalty found its way to touch and James Hallam crashed over from close range.
Then, as Blackheath turned over possession in their own half of the field, Fielding released Davies, the scrum-half sprinting down the right touchline to put Blackheath out of sight in the 51st minute before the visitors dominated possession and territory once again to no avail.
“Obviously I’m delighted with the five points,” said Blackheath head coach James Shanahan, who has previously worked for Old Albanian.
“We took our chances well and scored five good tries.
“However, I’m disappointed we didn’t execute the plans we practised in training and didn’t respect the ball well enough which gave away too much possession.
“Our defence was excellent it was just a bit of a pity we had to do so much of it through the game.”