First impressions are not always reliable but Canterbury showed enough ability and resolve in this pre-season friendly to suggest they can be a force in the months ahead.
They started slowly and might have been swept away in the opening quarter by a Blackheath side that dominated possession and brought the extra pace expected from a National Division One outfit.
A dropped ball and a missed tackle gave the visitors all the opportunity they needed to create a try for their wingman. For twenty minutes the city club were under pressure but a solid defence made sure they survived and gradually they found the confidence to turn the game into a real contest.
They took on and matched the Blackheath pack, delivered enough ball to launch attacks on both on narrow and wide fronts and by half time should have been level. Fly Half Charlie Kingsman made a scintillating break but lost control of the ball in the act of touching down.
That disappointment was put behind them two minutes into the second half when a penalty brought the pack into catch and drive territory. A driving maul was expertly manipulated and Royce Cadman got the try.
The score goaded Blackheath, always running the ball positively, into swift retaliation. Two converted tries in the space of three minutes pushed them into a fourteen point lead.
First their alert scrum half caught the city side slumbering with a quick tapped penalty and some quick hands and clever offloading brought the second.
Was the pace telling? Canterbury thought not and retaliation again came through their doughty pack. A second catch and drive score by prop Jim Green left the game nicely poised.
But they did not press the pedal further and in the experimental nature of pre-season warm-ups the liberal use of replacements saw the game lose some of its shape.
Towards the end Blackheath claimed a deserve fourth try, again converted, but Canterbury came away with plenty of positives, although in the harsher world of league rugby they will need to cut the penalty count if they are to succeed