Russell Ticehurst Interview: “We’ve got a shot at it – and everyone at Blackheath is embracing that”
After relegation from National One in 2022, Blackheath reset and rebuilt. Now, the world’s oldest rugby club have an opportunity to clinch promotion to Champ Rugby. (Photo Credit: Nick King)
On an episode of the National League Rugby Preview Show last year, Blackheath Managing Director Russell Ticehurst said something that did not feel especially dramatic at the time.
“Blackheath needed to manage their own destiny”.
After dropping out of National One for the first time in 18 years in 2022, the oldest rugby club in the world were in need of a reset, a chance to look inward and rebuild on their own terms.
Fast-forward to the present day, and Ticehurst’s line about destiny feels less like a passing comment and more like a fitting description of where Blackheath now find themselves.
On Saturday, Blackheath face London Scottish in the Champ Rugby Accession final, a match that carries the possibility of promotion into English rugby’s second tier.
London Scottish arrive bruised, having lost 34-11 to Richmond last weekend in the Champ Rugby Relegation play-off.
By contrast, Blackheath will head to the Richmond Athletic Ground in a buoyant mood, having beaten Plymouth Albion 22-10 in the National One Promotion play-off on May 9th, which extended their winning run to 11 consecutive games.
It is, Ticehurst admits, not a position many at the club expected to be in at the start of the season.
“If someone had said to you, you’re going to play Plymouth three times in one season and you’re going to win all three games and then have a shot at playing in the Champ, you’d have been hard-pressed to find a big bet to go down on that one,” he says, chuckling.
And yet, this is where Blackheath are. One win away from Level 2, a tier they last called home back in 1999.
“We’ve been very determined this year,” Ticehurst continues. “Very determined to win those big games. Unfortunately, we let ourselves down a few times, which cost us a chance at top spot, but we couldn’t have wanted more.
“The team have done a fantastic job, and it has got us to where we are this Saturday.”
After a summer that saw significant change at Blackheath – with head coach James Shanahan and senior players moving on – finishing second in National One on 107 points, just four behind eventual champions Rotherham Titans, is an achievement that cannot be downplayed.
A new coaching structure under Tom Stradwick was quickly assembled and, combined with some shrewd additions, Blackheath’s season steadily gathered momentum and went from strength to strength.
“We’d lost players like Markus [Burcham], 280-odd caps, Tom Baldwin, Jake Lloyd – loads of caps had gone from the club,” Ticehurst says. “And I said to Strads when he took over from Shanners: ‘Just do me a favour, don’t get us relegated!'”
He smiles at the memory.
“I didn’t quite expect it to work out as well as it has!”
Instead of instability, there has been clarity. Instead of pressure, enjoyment. The club agreed early in the season to take a more measured approach.
“We sat down and said let’s be sensible, let’s go and enjoy the season and see where we end up,” Ticehurst says.
“That has been our attitude. There’s been no pressure to win, no fear of losing. It was just about getting together as a group as quickly as we could, and we have done that really well.”
Within weeks, Ticehurst says the coaching group – which also includes David Marshall and Seb Sherwood (both former head coaches at National Two level) – no longer felt new. It felt embedded.
“It didn’t feel like a new coaching group. It felt like one we’d had for a long time. I’ve never felt so aligned with a coaching group. They have been relentlessly enthusiastic each week, and that sweeps through everybody.”
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That stability allowed Ticehurst and the executive team to focus on the wider club, including developing the infrastructure around their home ground of The Utilita, and building their relationship with Millwall FC’s academy, who share ‘Club’s’ facilities.
Then, at the beginning of 2026, with Blackheath sitting in the top three of National One, the RFU reached out to explore whether there would be an expression of interest in moving into Champ Rugby, should the club put itself in a position to do so and meet the second tier’s Minimum Operating Standards.
“When we got the official RFU email saying that they would like to come and talk to us about the Minimum Operating Standards, we all realised it was time to look around and take stock,” Ticehurst explains.
“I was very pleased when they came. We have not owned our ground all that long (Blackheath purchased Well Hall back in 2024), but we have continually invested in it. Sustainability and our future is massive to us. We are trying to run a proper household.
“You can’t develop by just having a good playing squad, and it feels right that the way we have invested by putting concrete in the ground and developing our infrastructure is being rewarded.
“It was so reassuring when the RFU came and said we weren’t far off. Just two or three changes, and that’s given us a huge amount of enthusiasm to continue the journey whether it is this season or next season, or the season beyond.
“What sits behind the playing group is solid. We have got to give the coaches and players that confidence to know that the club is sticking where it is and it is not going anywhere.”
In a club statement last month, Blackheath outlined their immediate plans as they continue to evolve both on and off the field.
But for all the pragmatism, planning and optimism around the club, Ticehurst still returns to the same thing: Attitude.
Blackheath were relegated to National Two East in 2022, but what felt like a rupture in their stability was turned into a positive by the Managing Director and those wanting to get the club back on track.
“I get criticised quite a bit for this, but I think it [relegation] was one of the best things that happened to us,” he says. “It allowed a huge amount of reflection. What we were taking for granted, what we were doing week in, week out, which we thought was okay.
“We changed things up. A few players made their feelings felt, and they moved on.
“That season, I think we lost 13 or 14 games by seven points or less. We weren’t far away, but we weren’t good enough. It allowed us to reset and get promotion, and that gave everybody a buzz.
“We had another good year with Shanners where we finished eighth and then sixth, but relegation wasn’t as bad as everyone first painted it out to be.
“I look back at that, the reflection, the attitude and the building blocks we put in place and say, ‘Would I have changed anything?’ Absolutely not.”
While some affiliated with Blackheath might not necessarily want to revisit headlines from that particular season, it is safe to say that, whatever happens on Saturday, this campaign will be fondly remembered.
The record-breaking, try-scoring exploits of National League Rugby’s poster boy – Blackheath hooker Billy Harding – has drawn attention from major media outlets and helped put both the club’s season, and National One itself, firmly on the map.
And if Blackheath were to take London Scottish’s place in Champ Rugby for 2026/27, it would only add further weight to the quality of National One.
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A ‘fan prediction’ on Champ Rugby’s social media channels has Blackheath as slight favourites, but if there is pressure, it is not visible around The Utilita.
Instead, there is a sense of ‘living in the moment’, born out of the confidence Blackheath have generated across the course of this season.
“The attitude, the excitement and the camaraderie at training while they have been going through their work has been fantastic to see,” Ticehurst says. “And then [on Tuesday] everyone got together afterwards for a good hour, sat in the bar upstairs, just enjoying each other’s company.
“I can’t commend Tom and the players more because every game they have had this attitude about them. I just know they are thoroughly looking forward to it.”
So from taking back control of their own destiny to standing on the brink of Champ Rugby, Blackheath are now just 80 minutes away from writing a fresh chapter in their fabled history.
And whilst there remains a measured realism from Ticehurst, the overriding emotion is excitement about what Saturday will – and could – bring.
“Let’s not underestimate the challenge,” Ticehurst says. “London Scottish are a good side, they’ll be hurting from last week and we are underdogs. But I wouldn’t like to be playing us on the back of 11 wins.
“This weekend is great for us. To finish second would’ve been fantastic. To finish second and then have two more games to see if you can get to Champ Rugby is just a dream come true.
“We’ve got a shot at it, and no one here is not embracing that. We’re 100 per cent ready mentally and emotionally. We are not going to step away from the challenge, and if we go up, we are going to embrace it 100 per cent.
“Everyone associated with the club is really, really looking forward to it.”
Watch London Scottish vs Blackheath LIVE on ClubberTV: https://www.clubbertv.co.uk/
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