Imperious Greens crush Blackheath

11:03am Monday 3rd March 2008

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Wharfedale 39 Blackheath 7

It was Blackheath's misfortune to encounter Wharfedale in unstoppable mood as the Greens earned a much-needed win with their best performance for a long time.

With incisive running and sure handling, Dale ripped gaping holes in the Blackheath defence to post five splendid tries to, if not quite banish, then deal the spectre of relegation from National Two a near-mortal blow.

Skipper Andy Baggett's imperious goal-kicking (six from seven) simply heaped icing onto a very tasty cake.

Stand-off Luke Gray started and finished the move for the Greens' first try (13 minutes) before Rob Baldwin collected a slick pass from Sam Stitcher to cross the line ten minutes later after a break from Chris Malherbe.

The South African got his own well-deserved try (38) to leave Blackheath facing a 27-0 deficit at the interval.

The Greens secured the bonus point on 63 minutes with scrum half James Doherty's score under the posts, Malherbe and Baggett combining for the opening.

An impressive 20-metre driven maul brought Blackheath the consolation of Alex Natera's converted try (66) but that irritation was cancelled out by a fine right-corner score by Mark Bedworth (69).