Blues Bully Blackheath

Blues 61- 20 Blackheath

On a night of ideal conditions for Rugby, the Blues destroyed their National Division One opposition, with John’s centre Sandy Reid stealing the show.

Despite the 29-15 scoreline printed on the backpage of our esteemed rivals TCS, in fact the Blues ran in a total of 10 tries.

The home side initially started badly, getting pushed back in the first scrum and giving a penalty away in front of the posts, which Blackheath easily converted.

Rob Stevens attempts to break the Blackheath line. Photos by Tim Sherrington. View more here.

However, it did not take long for the Blues to warm up and show the expansive play at which they are becoming increasingly adept. It was the forwards however that set the platform, shoving Blackheath back in a huge effort in a scrum against the head.

The Blues seized the advantage and winged the ball out wide to Jesus flyer Rob Stevens to squeeze the ball down in the corner.

From then on there was no looking back, the home side grew in confidence and began to run circles around their opposite numbers. The Blues by now were totally dominating possession and were looking threatening from deep, with some good breaks coming from captain Jimmy Richards and centre Fred Burdon.

The next try was not long in the making, with substitute Ben ‘Boyband’ Wilson put under the posts by Sandy Reid who simply skipped through his opposite number to leave a two on one with the full back.

The Blues pack fight for the ball against Blackheath. Photos by Tim Sherrington. View more here.

Somehow poor ‘Boyband’ seemed to injure himself diving over the line, and had to be substituted himself, despite having been on the pitch for only three minutes.

Only three minutes later it looked as if the Blues were over again, Sandy Reid once more evading his opposite number to put Ben Maidment in clear view of the try line, with no one to stop him. Unfortunately however, Maidment dropped it, and the chance went begging.

However, by now it did not really seem to matter, and the Blues were beginning to break the useless Blackheath defence with ease, with two superb tries coming before half time, both scored by Sandy Reid.

The second seemed to come out of nowhere, with Reid showing off his speed running a large arc behind the scrum, linking up twice with Stevens to beat the last defenders and finish what he started.

Photos by Tim Sherrington. View more here.

Blackheath however, had not quite curled up and died, and managed to sneak in a try in the corner just before half time, a just reward for a good ten minutes of hard graft.

However, the try wouldn’t have happened without some disorganization in the Blues defence, something that will be punished by better teams.

In the second half however, the home side began to run riot. Almost straight after the half started Ilia Cherezov got in on the action, with Fred Burdon drawing the hapless full back to put him under the posts.

Blackheath did stage a fightback of sorts, with their powerful winger barrelling over the Blues line. However, he was for some reason substituted soon after and the fightback was short lived; in part because his replacement looked about 12 years old and was easily dealt with.

Man of the match Sandy Reid breaks free. Photos by Tim Sherrington. View more here.

The Blues continued to cut up the Blackheath defence with embarrassing ease, and looked like they were beginning to show off.

Some real champagne rugby thrilled the crowd, particularly when Jimmy Richards darted through the Blackheath line to link twice with Fred Burdon who put Ben Maidment in for another easy try.

The Blues by now were just practising training ground moves, and seemed surprised with how well they paid off, before the end of the match three more tries came as the result of fancy backs moves.

Rob Stevens breaks through for a try. Photos by Tim Sherrington. View more here.

Cambridge did allow Blackheath a consolation try, but it was in the 82nd minute, and it looked as if the Blues could no longer be bothered.

Tougher tests will come next week however when the premiership side Northampton Saints visit Grange Road. If the Blues can keep up the quality of their play, they look set to have an impressive season.

The Blues play Northampton Saints on Monday 18th at 7.15 at Grange Road.