National One Play-Off Preview: Blackheath and Plymouth Albion lock horns for shot at Champ Rugby
Blackheath and Plymouth Albion meet on Saturday at The Utilita
©Nick King
The National One Promotion Play-Off is arguably the biggest game in the country this weekend, with Blackheath and Plymouth Albion vying for a place in the Champ Rugby Accession Final.
Blackheath and Plymouth Albion meet in the National 1 Promotion play-off on Saturday, with a season’s worth of progress, planning and pressure distilled into one decisive afternoon.
The winners will move on to face either Richmond or London Scottish on 23rd May for a place in Champ Rugby, but after a compelling National One title race, you could argue that both sides would be worthy of a spot in the second tier.
Blackheath clinched home advantage for this play-off tie after edging Plymouth Albion to second place.
'Club' had been on the periphery of the top two for much of the campaign, but Blackheath’s surge to second - combined with a season double over Plymouth (40-28 at home in November and 34-26 away in February) - suggests they have a psychological edge heading into this weekend.
But head coach Tom Stradwick is not buying into that narrative.
"The fact we’ve beaten them twice counts for absolutely nothing at this moment in time," he says. "It’s something we have been drumming home to the boys.
"It is a 50/50 flip of a coin. What’s happened before in the season counts for nothing."
Perhaps this is a reminder of how understated Blackheath’s approach has been all year.
There were no bold proclamations last summer, no fixed outcome or points target, just a conscious decision to let the season take shape around a new-look coaching group and a fresh intake of players.
“We had no real preconceptions about the style of rugby we were going to play,” Stradwick, who stepped up to become head coach last summer, says. "We didn’t necessarily set ourselves a target about where we wanted to finish. We’ve very much taken everything one game at a time, and it seems to have been a good mindset for us this year.”
Blackheath's outlook was not a deliberate coaching philosophy, but something forced by circumstances.
With Stradwick taking over the reins from James Shanahan - who has recently guided Bury St Edmunds to National One - there was a need to mould a new coaching group, with the likes of David Marshall and Seb Sherwood (both former head coaches at National Two level) brought in to strengthen the set-up.
There was similar rebuilding work on the pitch. With experienced figures such as Tom Baldwin, Leo Fielding and Markus Burcham no longer playing, Stradwick and Blackheath had to recruit carefully and with purpose.
"It would have been very hard to have said where we wanted to finish in the league when we didn't know how good our players were going to be," Stradwick explains. "How well they were going to gel together, and how the coaches were going to fit with the players.
"So many variables, but we knew if we worked hard to get things to a place we were happy with, then it would have the biggest impact on where we would finish up this season."
What emerged from that process was not just a streamlined squad but also a culture. One defined, in Stradwick's words, by three pillars: Development, enjoyment and hard work.
“Development is making sure everyone is driving to get better across the whole club,” he says.
“Enjoyment is huge. A lot of people give up so much of their time for this club and if people aren’t enjoying it, the environment doesn’t work.
"And the final thing is that hard work underpins all of that. That hopefully lends itself to creating a winning mentality."
That mantra has become more than just words. Since relegation to National Two East in 2022, Blackheath have steadily improved, with the ethos Stradwick speaks about now evident in their consistency on the pitch.
'Club' ended the regular season on a 10-match winning run - beating the likes of Plymouth and league winners Rotherham in the process - and they go into the play-offs having lost just once at home in 14 months.
Their progress this season has also been driven by the influence of club captain Billy Harding.
The hooker’s remarkable, record-breaking campaign - 48 tries in 26 matches - has attracted national attention from The Times, The Telegraph, The Observer and ClubberTV.
But for Stradwick, the numbers only tell part of the story.
“What probably goes under the radar is how good Billy's leadership is as a captain and how good of a bloke he is to have around the club,” he says. “He’s a ball of energy, but at the same time he holds boys to account when standards aren’t where they need to be.
"Yes, his try-scoring record had been phenomenal, and that is down to his hard work, his detail and also the players around him helping to facilitate that, but the unsung part about Billy is just how good he is as a bloke and a leader.
"The nice thing about it is we’ve got a lot of younger leaders in their early to mid-20s, and they’ve got Billy to look at and emulate. That’s quite exciting for the future."
But in terms of the here and now, Plymouth Albion know they will have to find a way to stop Billy Harding and Blackheath’s well-oiled and ruthless forward pack if they are to move on to the Champ Rugby Accession Final in two weeks time.
Back in August, Albion set out their vision.
After finishing fourth last season, the stated aim was clear: to become a “sustainable” and “competitive” Champ Rugby club across the next five years.
For head coach Ryan Lamb, however, this season has been as much about adaptation as it has been about progression.
Injuries and mid-season disruption have tested Plymouth’s consistency, and while they were eventually overtaken by Blackheath in the race for second place, Albion still recorded their joint-highest league finish since 2018.
“Really, really good season,” Lamb says. “There’s been a bit of disruption with injuries and player availability behind the scenes, but overall I think the season has been outstanding. The boys have ridden those waves really well.”
He also points to the longer arc of the Plymouth project.
“The club made it pretty clear we want to be a Champ club. It’s about continuous improvement. We set a five-year plan, so we might even be ahead of where we expected to be.
"Everything is positive at the club at the moment. The attendances are going up all the time [Plymouth broke the record for the highest-ever NLR attendance this season - 4,631], the connection we have with the community is great, and the squad we have, and are building, is really positive, so it is a really good place to be at the moment.
"You feel like something is growing and brewing. We all have the same vision."
That positivity has been underpinned as much by belief as structure, particularly after a 10-match winning run last season reshaped expectations within the squad.
"Once you start getting those results, you start believing in a way," Lamb says. "And once you believe you can do it, you know you can do it, but we know National One is a very competitive league with so many good sides in it."
Lamb's realism is perhaps reflected in Plymouth’s away form against their fellow top-five sides this season.
Four defeats from four might be a concern, but it is something Plymouth will want to confront this weekend.
Narrow losses to eventual champions Rotherham Titans and Sale FC, as well as defeats at Rosslyn Park and Blackheath, won't make for comfortable reading for Lamb.
But lessons from those occasions will have been taken on board, most notably the setbacks against Blackheath earlier in the season.
"I don't want to take too much credit away from Blackheath as they have been a fantastic side this season, but we just didn’t get the basics right in those games," Lamb reflects. "In the home game a couple of months ago, we lost lineouts early and backed it up with poor discipline.
"We know how strong their set-piece is, and it will be a big point in the game on Saturday. If you give sides like Blackheath easy entries into your half who also have variation, they’ll punish you - and they did that day.
"We’ve got to be good across the board. We know we can be and beat anyone on our day.”
That sense of delivering under pressure runs through both camps.
For all the season-long narratives towards the top of National One, it now comes down to execution and producing when it matters most.
"These are the games you want to be involved in," Stradwick says. "Plymouth are an excellent side, a well-coached team, they have got some fantastic players, but we just have to be accurate and take our chances."
"Games like this come down to an error or a moment of magic," Lamb adds. “We just have to start well, don't force anything. It might be a bit of a chess match in that first 20/30 minutes!"
Plymouth will also lean into the psychology of the occasion. Away from home, they are comfortable with having a 'siege mentality' - an approach Lamb embraces.
"The pressure is kind of off us a bit," he says. "We are going away to the lion's den if you like! We can use that energy."
And the energy which the play-offs have brought not just to National One - but in National Two as well - has been evident, with both Stradwick and Lamb in agreement as the season for Blackheath and Plymouth Albion reaches a thrilling climax.
"I think players, coaches, fans on both teams have been fizzing for this," says Stradwick. "I think it is a great initiative to have this play-off system. It has just made this league season so, so exciting.
"As a club, we are under no illusions about just how difficult the task is. It would be fantastic to go through [to the Champ Rugby Accession Final], but the things that we have focused on this season - those three pillars I spoke about earlier - regardless of what league the club is in, if we are doing all of those things well, that is a good sign for the rugby club in my eyes."
"Saturday will be a really good advert for National One rugby," Lamb adds. "It is great that this is getting so much exposure. It is better than maybe in previous seasons because those last couple of games could have been dead rubbers.
"We just have to stick to our game plan on the weekend. We have to think smartly, and we have to put pressure on them.
"It is going to be a great experience for the boys. We are really looking forward to it now."
Watch Blackheath vs Plymouth Albion LIVE on ClubberTV: https://www.clubbertv.co.uk/
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