Waterloo pay price for slow opening

Feb 25 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

DESPITE a positive second half performance, failure to get to grips in the first half left Waterloo with far too much to do as they went down to their fifth consecutive defeat, 31-22 away to Blackheath.

Waterloo took an 8-6 lead with a try from Dan Loader, the winger picking up on a loose ball in broken play to add to an early penalty from Alex Davies. Unfortunately the visitors were unable to maintain their momentum, allowing the home side to run in two converted tries before the interval with a similar effort just after the break to give them a 28-8 lead.

Waterloo, at last, began to come into the game and after Steve Dodd had collected a neat chip on the full from Davies for a try, converted by the outside half, and Matt Bradley had stormed in off a break by Jon Nugent, also converted by Davies, Waterloo were back in contention with almost 20 minutes remaining.

But they were unable to force the breakthrough and paid the price, conceding a late penalty to deny them even a losing bonus point.