Blackheath continued their unbeaten streak after a hard-fought victory over Chinnor at Well Hall.
An excellent kicking display from Full Back Joe Tarrant and a late try by Jake Lloyd confirmed victory for the home side.
Neither side were able to get the better of the weather in the opening stages, with continues mistakes plaguing both sides.
Lack of discipline
It took until the 28th minute for a mistake to finally become costly, when a lack of discipline in the ruck from Chinnor allowed Tarrant to open the scoring from under the posts to make it 3-0.
But it didn’t take long for Chinnor to hit back, stealing the ball from kick off and setting free fly-half Craig Holland who made a break from the half-way line and held on to sneak over in the corner.
Using the wind to his advantage, Holland converted from the side-lines to give Chinnor a 7-3 lead.
Blackheath were dominant for the majority of the first half and it finally began to show on the score line when a dominant scrum allowed Tarrant once again to strike to bring the score to 6-7
Pressure
increased pressure on the Chinnor defence saw scrum half Greg Goodfellow sent to the sin-bin for continuous penalisation, and Tarrant compiled their misery by slotting another penalty to take the score to 9-6 at half time.
In similar fashion to the first half, the second interval took some time to get going, with both sides acclimatising themselves to the conditions once again.
Once the game did spark into life, Blackheath took first blood, as Tarrant struck twice in quick succession, once from the halfway line, to put Blackheath 15-7 ahead with 20 minutes to play.
However, the flurry of points for Blackheath seemed to give Chinnor a boost, controlling possession for 10 minutes before a pushover try went over in the corner. Once again fly-half Holland converted from a tight angle to put Chinnor within a point of the hosts.
Despite the game being firmly in the balance, Blackheath dominated the last 10 minutes, camped on the Chinnor line just inches away from a game sealing try.
Advantage
Replacement hooker Matt Beesley was yellow-carded with five minutes to play, giving the Blackheath forwards a chance for a pushover try, but the pack ignored the number advantage and sent the ball out wide where Jake Lloyd expertly stayed in play to seal the victory.
Joe Tarrant capped off a brilliant performance by converting from the touchline, taking a losing bonus point away from Chinnor who took home zero points for their efforts.
Despite a winning display, Blackheath dropped down to 2nd in the table, one point behind fellow east London side Old Ethamiams who secured a bonus point victory over Cinderford.
Blackheath return to action next Saturday when they travel to Clifton Lane to take on 4th placed Rotherham Titans.
Blackheath Team:
Forwards; Williams, Perks, Herriott, Patrick, Peters, Stradwick, Owen, Nilsson
Backs; Liebenberg, Cooke, Dowsett, Burcham(c), Pickersgill, Lloyd, Tarrant
Replacements; Fry, Ackuaku, Daish, Daly, Clements-Hill
Chinnor Team:
Forwards; Elwood, George, Gilding, Ramshaw, Gray, Manning, Bordill, Burns
Backs; Goodfellow, Holland, Joseph, Dancer, Barnes(c), Hodson, Goss
Replacements; Beesley, Price, Thomas, Tupai, Nawaqaliva
