Birmingham Moseley 35 Blackheath 13 – National League One defeat for Club
BY GRAHAM COX
A National League One match where the outcome of which would likely be determined by the prevalence of the Moseley forwards or the Blackheath backs – and it was the former who triumphed.
Despite the dry, windless overhead conditions, and a good surface – given the deluge of rain in the preceding days – the Club could not impose the pace and width required to unleash their backline, and although two late tries added a huge dollop of whipped cream for the home crowd, it was a fully-merited win for the West Midlanders.
The catalogue of unforced errors from both teams was endless, and it was Blackheath who obviously paid the heavier price, but not in the first quarter.
It took just 27 seconds for Moseley to infringe within close-enough range for Tom Ffitch to open the scoring with three points, and twice the hosts were denied with moves down the left flank, first by losing the ball forward on the goal-line, and then with a foot in touch.
Moseley also twice went for touch when easy points were on offer, only to be repelled. On 21 minutes, quick ball saw Jake Hennessey take play into contact, Noah Sloot opened the gap and Tom Baldwin, up in support, sent Paul Schroter across for an excellent try and an unlikely 10-0 lead for Blackheath.
Not for long though. A great kick to touch from Mose fly-half Tighe Maxwell-Whiteley enabled the hosts to pick and probe once more and, at the third time of asking, prop David Langley stretched out to score.
Then, moments later, a calamitous mid-air collision between Hennessey and Oli Burgess resulted in loose ball being snapped up by Mose centre Morgan Adderly-Jones for an easy run-in, and with scrum-half Jack Jolly adding both conversions, the Birmingham side took the lead.
On a perfect afternoon for place-kickers, Ffitch struck a long-range effort to reduce the arrears to a single point at the break, but it was the final time Blackheath would trouble the scoreboard.
With a disrupted, malfunctioning lineout, and a scrum under massive pressure, the visitors had little to work off, and further hindered themselves by taking the ball back over their goal-line as they tried to relieve pressure by breaking out of defence.
Somehow, following a fourth close-range put-in, Club turned possession and began to lift the siege, but the hard graft came to nothing as ball was spilt on halfway, moved quickly, and Adderly-Jones sped over for his second try.
One brief moment of light appeared for Blackheath, as Schroter broke clear once again and Jolly was dispatched for illegally killing the move. The visitors could not capitalise and when numbers evened up as Archie Holland paid the price for another Club scrum-infringement, hope all but disintegrated.
Blackheath continued to chase, but Moseley sealed the result in the dying moments as wing Aquile Smith scored down the right flank, and Freddie Painter added a fifth try following an interception.
Blackheath will be looking for a better performance as they welcome Darlington Mowden Park to The Utilita on Saturday (3pm).