Wow, what a game, what a gutsy effort by all concerned. It can only be summed-up by a couple of quotes from those involved.

First, Combe’s matchday captain Jack Harvey: “It was an honour to take the 3s out to battle against a very strong Blackheath side, who wanted the win just as much as us and put us under a real siege for long periods. The gents played with heart, grit, and for each other right until the final whistle. Even when we were down to 13 men, the lads dug in and kept defending together. Every player gave everything out there, and the effort and attitude shown says a lot about this group. A performance the club can be proud of.”

Feedback from the opposition management was just as effusive: “A couple of our club old boys who were watching, who watch everything from 1s to Vets, said it was the best they’ve seen all season for the commitment both teams showed.”

So, what happened…

A strong squad journeyed to Blackheath with the aim of overturning our opening game defeat against a determined and experienced opposition. Following a slight delay due to the ref being stuck in traffic (and having also misplaced his whistle and flags), the game kicked off with a healthy crowd of home and vocal travelling support.

Right from the first play the scene was set, with strong defence from Combe showing through, Ollie Burge and Henry Anderson laying down their early markers and setting the tone for their part in the day. Some strong forward carries, with Will Dowden and Jack Harvey, morphing into Ellis Genge and Ben Earle, were stopped just short of the line.

The match settled into an arm wrestle, with neither side able to make any impact on the scoreboard despite some excellent play from both teams. Combe eventually opened the scoring with around 30 minutes on the clock from the reliable boot of Jacob Ingold. This looked likely to be the only score of the half until the Blackheath winger showed an impressive turn of speed to beat his defender on the stroke of half time - with the missed conversion the half ended 5-3.

The second half started off in a similar fashion to the first, with defence to the fore. However, the Combe cause was helped by a yellow card to Blackheath for a high tackle on Joe Birch which allowed Combe to exert some control. First, after a defence splitting run from Danny McNamara, Arun Kaushik was able to sneak over to score Combe’s first try. Luke Collado converted to make it 5-10. Combe were now in the ascendancy, and when Collado spotted a gap he took full advantage from just inside his own half, speeding through the defence to score. Despite missing the conversion, Combe heads were up, 5-15

Once back to 15, and to their credit, Blackheath held firm and were able to take the fight back to Combe. Indeed, following some strong attacking play Blackheath were able to sneak a try of their own, with the conversion again missed, making it 10-15.

The final 15 minutes then were perhaps the most tense of the 3s season so far. Combe’s discipline issues looked like they might rear their heads again, and two men were lost to the sin bin in a 3 minute period as tempers threatened to boil over. However, this was to prompt a period of huge defensive intensity from Combe, with players making tackles and rejoining the defensive line immediately to support their team mates. The defensive line held firm as Combe returned to 14 and then 15 players, and with time running out the whole team hit ruck after ruck (a rumoured 27 phase period of play), to retain possession. After a brief turnover scare with 25 seconds on the clock, scrum half Arun won a penalty at the breakdown by forcing Blackheath to hold on, and MOTM Luke tapped to allow Captain Jack to hoof the ball into touch to seal the win.

The 3s have a rest weekend this Saturday with our next game away at Old Dunstonians on Valentines day.