When Blackheath toured Argentina in May, they took some youngsters who played without inhibition and produced some wonderful rugby on what was a highly successful trip. Once again in this contest (and in rather nippier weather conditions than they encountered during most of their stay in South America!), a Club side that contained no fewer than five players under the age of 20 put together an outstanding display, that for a time in the second period, ran the visitors ragged and provided a modicum of cheer on a day that English rugby could do with it.
The history of this fixture has been well documented, but it stands as a fact that Newport hold the upper hand with a vast majority of victories over the 129 years that this match has been played, and although racked with injury problems, their current position of second in the Welsh Premiership would have made them favourites to add to their tally. Indeed, the Club front-row of Ali Lyon, skipper Liam Wordley (replaced at the end of the first period by Jack Knight) and young Alex Brown at tight-head, had their work cut out to cope with a formidable Newport pack and during an opening, which stuttered a little with frequent penalties, it was the visitors who had the slight advantage. On 16 minutes they made that edge count as outside-centre Mike Burke broke to the right from half-way, and wing Rhys Richards cut a lovely angle to race home from 35 metres.
However, at fly-half Pete Squires, one "veteran" of the Argentina trip, possesses an impressively mighty boot and powerful flat pass, and despite collecting one or two hefty challenges along the way, soon had the hosts settling into a pattern. On the half-hour a penalty to touch on the visitors' twenty-two produced clean line-out ball for Ally Vanner, and Alex Page was able to find a gap towards the right corner, the scrum-half hesitating to look for support before deciding he didn't need it, and crossing for the try himself.
Newport full-back Matt McLean's successful conversion separated the sides at the interval, but within two minutes of the re-start Blackheath had taken the lead. James Catt came on as replacement for Page and orchestrated an explosive opening to the second period which rocked the visitors and saw second-row Gavin Wallis worked over to the right of the uprights from quick phase ball.
Had the Welshmen capitalised on the period of pressure that followed it could have been a different story, but unforced errors in Club territory let them down and on the hour-mark they were punished with the crucial and, arguably, best try of the match. Paul Humphries had an excellent game at full-back and now did well to mop up loose ball in his twenty-two before finding a gap to break to the half-way line. Tom White had been an early substitute for the unfortunate Ovie Kokolo on the wing and duly arrived at express pace on the right touch-line to collect Humphries' pass and coast home from 50 metres. Now Blackheath purred along nicely and when, ten minutes later, a scrum in midfield produced more quickly-recycled ball for Wallis, who along Tom Lawy in the back-row also enjoyed a fine afternoon, to cross the goal-line for his second score, the result was settled (although replacement prop James Greenfield's try at the very death offered the visitors deserved consolation).
The long awaited, but expected, decision to expand National League Two to 16 clubs from next season will make it almost impossible to find time for this kind of game in the future. That's a pity! This was a hard match, played in an excellent spirit, yet still meaningful and with an edge, and a fitting tribute to a grand occasion.
Scorers:
Blackheath Tries: Page
Wallis 2
White
Conv: Humphries 3
Newport Tries: Richards
Greenfield
Conv: McLean