With the delayed season finally starting, Saints welcomed Blackburn rugby club to Malone field Eastham. With sunny conditions and a good covering of grass on the pitch considering the very dry summer Captain Will Grebe lead the team out, also marking his 150th appearance for the club well done Will. With three debutants in the team Charlie Greene Bailey Smith and George Cole and with five of the usual starting lineup injured there was some trepidation in the Saints supporters whether they could get a result from the strong Blackburn team.
It was Saints who applied pressure straight from the whistle and Blackburn where under the cosh as the stretched defence where unable to plug the gaps allowing Ollie Dodd to slip over the line to open the score, converted by Baldwin Saints flying with only 4 mins on the clock.
Again, after the restart Saints piled on the pressure again but valiant defence from the large Blackburn pack held firm until Prop John Whittaker smashed over from short-range making an easy conversion for Baldwin and a 14-0 lead. Saints where now firmly in control with a dummy and sidestep by Baldwin before slipping the ball to Charlie Green for a try on his debut, again converted and piling on the pressure 21-0.
During this period Saints where relentless with the forwards solid in scrum and a faultless line out Blackburn where unable to make any headway into the game and in the 28th minute Saints bonus point came courtesy of Greene with his second try of the game again converted by Baldwin 28-0.Blackburn finally managed to apply some pressure and get up to Saints 22m line however with the ball turned over the ball was shipped wide where a great run by George Cole before an inside pass to Ollie Dodd who rolled over the line for the 5th try to Saints Baldwin again converting for a very healthy 35-0 lead.
Last score of the half was a spectacular dive across the line for Baldwin to touch down his first try since God knows when, easily converted by himself and a very solid 42-0 lead.
The second half started with a complete turnaround with Blackburn scoring three converted tries in 12 minutes, with missed tackles twice and an interception from a mis timed pass 42-2.
Saints probably guilty of complacency after such a dominant first half they must have thought Blackburn would crumble, obviously they were wrong. However, a catch and drive put last year’s top scorer Joe Sanders over again with Baldwin kicking the extras 49-2. With the teams now seeming evenly matched on the field no team seemed to dominate and strong defence and good attack by both sides lead to a great game of committed rugby. With a wayward pass interception Blackburn where gifted their fourth try to secure a bonus point, well deserved after their second half performance and with both teams unable to secure any more points in the remaining 10 minutes game ended 49-28.
Baldwin was named MOM by Blackburn. Next week an away trip to Rochdale.