Blaydon 28, Blackheath 11

In what was undoubtedly their best display of the season Blaydon dominated a side that started the game 11 places and 40 points ahead of them in the league. Leading the way towards the 5 point win was hooker Matt Thompson who touched down a hat-trick of tries, his second of the season, which took his total so far to 9.

They led by 2 tries to 1 and a narrow lead at the interval but were so in control in the second period that the visitors could only add a single penalty in a rare excursion into the Blaydon 22.
Director of rugby Micky Ward was lavish in praise of side, saying “That performance was outstanding. In the last 3 games the lads have really enjoyed themselves and today we stuck to our game plan and our defence was terrific”.
Blackheath grabbed an early lead when a Blaydon clearance kick failed to find touch and was run straight back at them for No8 Tom Baldwin to finish off the move. Blaydon were quickly back on terms however thanks to a brilliant jinking run by full-back James Cooney that took his side from one to the other. A penalty resulted and from the line-out drive Thompson was over for his first.
Leo Fielding landed a penalty for the visitors but Blaydon scored again on 36 minutes, also from a line-out but this time from some smart interplay between Nathan Horsfall and Thompson the scorer.
Brett Connon and Fielding exchanged penalties in the early minutes of the second period and from then on it was all Blaydon.
Tom Penny, a replacement winger, set up the next score with a smart break from half-way and when Blackheath infringed, as they frequently did, the penalty went to touch and the driving maul from fully 30 metres out laid on the Thompson third.
Blackheath did well to repel Blaydon’s next drive but were unable to clear and the pressure continued with Jack Davidson crashing over for the bonus point try. Connon stretched the lead with the conversion and then set the seal on the well deserved victory with a late penalty.

John Brennan