The Old Albanians’ visit to the Athletic Ground was the final league game of the season and the first chance for the home supporters to celebrate the 1st XV’s triumphant return to the National Leagues as London One Champions. The match attracted a good sized crowd and was sponsored by the Richmond Heavies Simpsons’ Luncheon Club. The occasion got off to a bizarre start. The Old Albanians ran out first followed by the referee as the still gathering crowd waited to cheer on the London One Champions. Having waited for a couple of minutes referee Craig Smith lost patience, blew his whistle and awarded a penalty to the Albanians. Without further ado the Albanians took a short penalty and jogged through to the vacant Richmond line to score the opening try, which was duly converted. The home side finally ran out to see their opponents returning back to their half with a 7-0 lead. If this was the letter of the law it is hard to imagine that anyone gained any satisfaction from it. However the early score did at least serve the purpose of focussing Richmond on finishing the season in style and displaying their full range of attacking and defensive skills. With the forwards immediately establishing dominant control of both scrums and line outs, the home side soon took the lead. Matt Hart stroked an early penalty and after ten minutes Frankie van Schalkwyk scored the first try, profiting from a beautifully timed delayed pass by fly half Luke Cousins. |  Champions splash out! Pic: Harry Hooper |
Three more tries were scored before half time as forwards and backs ran with confidence, interpassing with great skill and constantly breaking first tackles. First Neil Piggot scored under the posts, juggling the final pass after good set up play by Tom George and Tom Drewe. Then Kenny Bingham, showing his versatility in the centre, scored a brace of tries, the first resulting from a big dummy and the second from the mobility of the home locks Henry Head and Tristan Wesley. The half time score was 31-7. |
