Rugby Union: Cup blues threaten The Club

IF culture shock wins and loses matches Blackheath, the oldest club in England, will be in danger when they travel round the South Circular to play Old Blues in the Pilkington Cup second round.

Of course Blackheath, aka The Club, will be hard pushed to lose to their humble opponents, whose status is London League Two compared with Blackheath's National League Two. But the draw made at Twickenham yesterday has ensured they will at least be uncomfortable.

'I would dearly love to see the faces of the Blackheath boys when they arrive and see our clubhouse, because we are rebuilding it and it rains in the away dressing-room,' the Old Blues' chairman of rugby, John Williams, said. 'In all honesty we'd have preferred Richmond at home because we have six ex-Richmond players, but Blackheath will do very nicely.'

Old Blues, a club originally restricted to the former pupils of Christ's Hospital, Horsham, are situated at Motspur Park and qualified for the Pilkington Cup for the first time by reaching last season's Surrey Cup final, in which they lost to Old Alleynians. But their Pilkington particulars state that they have no coach and evidently they do not take the rugby game as seriously as further cup success would require.

'Put it this way: if we'd drawn Redruth at home we would have reversed the fixture because the boys like a trip,' Williams said. The new clubhouse will take six months to complete, by which time their cup run may be over.

This is the round when the clubs, many old and distinguished, of National League Two come into the cup, including four - Bedford, Coventry, Moseley and Newcastle Gosforth - whose distant past achievements include winning the competition (or sharing it in Moseley's case).

PILKINGTON CUP Second-round draw: North and Midlands: Tynedale v Sheffield; Otley v Sale; Coventry v Hereford; Lichfield v Waterloo; Wakefield v Bradford & Bingley; Bedford v Askeans; Towcestrians v Newcastle Gosforth; Morley v Broughton Park; Worcester v Nottingham; Fylde v Leeds; Moseley v Harrogate. London and South-West: Richmond v Sudbury; Exeter v Berry Hill; Old Blues v Blackheath; Tabard v High Wycombe; Rosslyn Park v Plymouth Albion; Bridgwater & Albion v Redruth; Henley v London Welsh; Lydney v Clifton. Ties to be played 7 November.