Bishop’s Stortford brought down to earth with a thud by dominant Blackheath in National League 1

Bishop’s Stortford were brought down to earth with a thud after their opening-day win against Leicester Lions by a strong, well-organised Blackheath side at Silver Leys on Saturday.

After going 7-0 down early on, the visitors from south-east London proceeded to dominate the game, scoring five tries before half time and denying their hosts any points in the second half.

Stortford went ahead after six minutes with a try by Jack Biard, set up by winger Josh Stannard stepping outside a first challenge to set his centre clear to the posts. Mike Cooke kicked the conversion.

Blackheath, who were beaten 31-20 at home by Richmond in their opening-day fixture, steadily took control, repeatedly stripping the ball in contact and using it to great effect with a fast, offloading game.

With livewire scrum half Jordan Burns calling most of the shots, Blackheath clocked up five tries before half time, three of them converted by fly half Tom Ffitch.

Burns scored the first himself after 12 minutes and a brace from flanker Noah Sloot were sandwiched between tries from Ffitch and winger Jake Lloyd.

Cooke kicked a penalty goal for Stortford after 17 minutes to take his season’s points tally to 21.

Stortford were much more competitive after the break, allowing only one further try, to full back Jake Hennessey on 68 minutes, which added to a Ffitch penalty goal after 47.

Apart from a threatening dart from Charlie Briers and a slick handling move down the right with time running out, Stortford were unable to pose any serious scoring threat with the limited possession they were able to muster.

Bishop’s Stortford: Powell, Stannard, Biard, Pope, Smith C, Cooke, Bolton; Hill, Rayment, Peck, Ferguson, Kiff, Jones, Merrett, Rogers. Replacements: Bell, Smith T, Charter, Briers, Mills.

Blackheath: Hennessey, Lloyd, Fielding, Hirskyj-Douglas, Armstrong, Ffitch, Burns; Davis, Harding, Boye, Everard, Cavubati, Schroter, Sloot, Baldwin. Replacements: Witchell, Holland, Smart, Daly, Burgess.

SCORERS

Bishop’s Stortford – Try: Biard 6. Con: Cooke 7. Pen: Cooke 17

Blackheath – Tries: Burns 12, Ffitch 17, Sloot 29 & 32, Lloyd 40, Hennessey 68. Cons: Ffitch 27, 30 & 40. Pen: Ffitch 47.

Referee: Michael Lamb. Star man: Jordan Burns, Blackheath. Attendance: 650.