Having shipped an early converted try to Tom Baldwin, the visitors showed a free-flowing attacking verve which saw them level as young scrum-half Ollie Hodgson finished a sublime continuity move, Fraser Honey with the extras.
Club regained the lead as Jordan Burns raced away, Jake Hennessey again on target, but Nick Barry went over before Honey made it 14-14.
Blackheath take control before fightback
The hosts led at the break after Billy Harding dotted down from a maul, and Blackheath extended their advantage to 20 points after Tex Cavubati crossed before Harding doubled his tally, Hennessey with another conversion and penalty.
Yet resilient Rams refused to yield as Dan Swain and Zach Clow crossed in rapid order to reduce the arrears to 34-26 heading into the final quarter, only for a third maul score by Tom Stradwick bursting their momentum.
An injury-time penalty try from a five-metre scrum gave Rams hope of a stunning heist, but they were ultimately repelled at the end of a thrilling contest.
However, Seb was in a far more buoyant mood than after the Sedgley Park loss seven days before, saying: “I’m extremely proud of our lads.
“We’ve got to give credit to Blackheath, they produced some good rugby and it was an excellent game, but some of the stuff we played was different to what we’ve done – we wanted to strip it back, challenge the boys to just get on the front foot and see what they could do, and they did that.
“It wasn’t an easy fixture, it had a bit of edge to it from what happened before, and I thought our guys held themselves with class. They were superb.
“We wanted to put on a performance people could be excited about, and I felt we did that.
“We lost, but we’re going to keep fighting through this run and it’s something of a win in terms of putting out what we wanted to produce.”
Praise for youngsters
He continued: “It’s been very hard. We’ve had a lot of injuries, a lot of new players – we lost 22 last summer – so there’s been plenty of change.
“We got on the front foot early in the campaign with 10 wins, we were right in the (title) hunt and while it’s not worked out, you’ve still got to look for the positives and that includes the opportunities it has given to other players.
“Hodgy for one is a young scrum-half who at the start of the year you probably wouldn’t have given him a shot at being in the starting line-up – we’ve played seven No. 9s this season – but we’ve asked him to play a certain way, he’s done it and a full 80 minutes and I’m really proud of him.
“Oli Rhoads looked dangerous and Jack Rampton on the right wing, I was so pleased for him. He’s threatened to play like that all season, had to be patient to get his chance, but was superb.
“(Substitute) Nat (Arnold, who became Rams’ 41st player to feature this term) is a very talented player with great footwork whose come through the Bath Academy, and hopefully we can get him more involved.
“But this is a learning curve for the guys. If you don’t play well for 10 or 15 minutes you can be three or four scores behind, and that was ultimately decisive.”
Rams host second-placed Rotherham Titans next Saturday (3pm). For tickets and pre-match lunch, click here
