Blackheath aiming to get back at first time of asking
James Shanahan’s Blackheath have made an impressive start to season and hope to win promotion back to National 1 at the first time of asking.
Last season, 17 of Blackheath’s 21 defeats were by seven points or fewer and were consequently relegated to National 2 East.
One of Shanahan’s goals was to get his players enjoying rugby again and, with four wins from four, it certainly looks as if there’s smiles on faces around Blackheath once more.
Shanahan said: “We’re pretty pleased. We haven’t hidden away from the fact we want to get back into National 1 but we’re not taking anyone for granted and know it’s not going to be easy. We’ve had a good start and played some good rugby but the weather will turn soon and we’ll have to front up physically. There’s loads of teams pushing each other and surprise results all around the league.”
Blackheath have secured bonus point wins against Dorking, Rochford Hundred, Canterbury and Bury St Edmunds while their match in round two against Sevenoaks was called off due to an unplayable pitch.
Shanahan said: “I thought last weekend Bury in the second half played really well and provided a wake up call which is good as we needed that. In the first game I thought we took Dorking a bit lightly. We were pretty switched on for Rochford and Westcliff but it shows the boys that we can’t relax at any point, we’ve got to be on our game for 80 minutes if we are to succeed in getting back up.”
Blackheath’s attack are averaging almost 50 points per game but Shanahan recognises that with colder, wetter months to come, his side will have to adapt to a more pragmatic game plan if their winning run is to continue.
He said: “What we’re doing in training is coming out in the games. It’s all down to physicality, we’re winning collisions when we’re going forward and we’ve got the ability to move the ball. What we do have as well is 1-15 we’re pretty comfortable with ball in hand, which is different to some other teams, so we’re lucky we can move the ball into the right areas. However, the weather will start to change and we might have to focus a bit more on our kicking game, which has been pretty good, and also our defence in our mauls.”
Alex Harris is the league’s joint top try scorer with five and Shanahan is delighted he’s been able to get the best out of his winger so far this season.
He said: “ He hasn’t just been scoring tries, he’s been setting them up as well. It’s been good to see him flourish and hopefully it continues.”
