Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 14 Blackheath 18

The extent of the impact of losing skipper, James Ayrton and Ollie Jones to injury can only be speculated on but, for whatever reason, little went right for Stortford today. Blackheath clearly came into the game lacking confidence and their generous hosts seemed determined to help them find some form, repeatedly kicking long, allowing the visitors time and room to run back, slowly finding some rhythm, which eluded the home side for much of the game. Thus it was that the visitors took the lead after 7 minutes via a penalty goal from Jake Hennessey, when Stortford were caught offside in front of the posts. The home side, on this occasion managed to strike straight back, courtesy of a charge-down by Luis Ball of an attempted clearance kick from the base of a defensive scrum. The No. 6 hacked the ball on and had the presence of mind, when it stopped agonisingly short of the try line to settle for securing the ball and, as his fellow forwards piled in, Alex Wardell was able to drive over for a try, converted by Connor Lloyd. Almost immediately, though, Blackheath countered with a second penalty goal, this time very well converted from almost halfway by replacement flyhalf, Matt Dalrymple, when Stortford were penalised for not releasing at a tackle. Both sides were struggling for any fluency at this stage and it took a bad error in Blackheath's midfield close to halfway to set Stortford bursting almost to the opposition try-line. Returning the favour, though, two Stortford handling errors allowed the visitors to counter attack and, after several phases, they were able to make pressure count, with Ollie Walliker going over for a try out wide, well-converted by Dalrymple. They held on comfortably for the remaining 5 minutes of the half to go in 6 points up.

Stortford started the second period with a little more ambition and a long pass from Riddington gave Chris Smith room on the left wing. Good ground was made, but support was slow getting to the breakdown and Blackheath won a penalty. The home side attacked again, but gave away another penalty, allowing the opposition to get onto the front foot and a sweeping move ended with a clever rolling kick by Dalrymple to touch 5 metres from Stortford's line. Another poor defensive kick from the resultant lineout allowed the visitors to keep the pressure up and, when another penalty was won, a secondary drive from an attacking 5 metre lineout saw No 8, Tom Baldwin crash over for an unconverted try 7 minutes into the half. A slick Stortford loop move in midfield from a set piece close to halfway put Riddington into space and he too put in a rolling kick to touch close to the opposition line. The team, unfortunately were unable to replicate Blackheath's resultant pressure, immediately conceding a penalty at the lineout. The home side, nevertheless, was gaining a slight upper hand and, thanks to two successive penalties, was able to threaten the opposition line again, but twice knocked on in the red zone. It, therefore took until the 74th minute for the line to be crossed, with Riddington touching down, after the ball was switched quickly inside, when the defence had been stretched with good wide ball to Alex Gilham. The flyhalf converted his own try. Stortford tried in vain to complete the fightback in the final minutes, with Blackheath's defence not seriously threatened again.

With over 300 supporters sitting down to a great pre-match Christmas lunch and the Blues beating their Blackheath counterparts convincingly on Pitch 2, this was a great occasion and our thanks go to Match Sponsors, Tees and to Bit Solutions, Man of the Match Sponsors, both tremendous, long-term supporters of the Club. The MoM award went to Will Rogers for his unstinting efforts throughout the game to drive the opposition backwards, both in defence and when in possession.