Match Report: Chinnor 55 - 26 Richmond

Richmond faced a tough away trip to second placed form team Chinnor and endured a challenging afternoon, conceding nine tries. However, it was to Richmond’s credit that they stuck to the task and scored two tries in the last eight minutes to come away with a losing bonus point. Richmond move up to sixth place in the table.

Chinnor are clearly not short of ambition, recruiting Harlequin and England forward Nick Easter as their Director of rugby and then adding head coach Craig Hampson (Ealing) and assistant coach Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins). As a result, they have plenty of useful contacts and have used them to put together a talented team.

Richmond fielded a settled squad involving the same 20 players that featured in last weekend’s impressive win over Plymouth, with only two rotations, one taking place in the pack and the other in the centres. Lucas Schmid starting at blindside flanker with Henry Wills dropping to the bench and Henry Cheeseman starting at outside centre pushing Sean Kerr to the bench. Chinnor, who had never previously beaten Richmond, had Bath fly half George Worboys making his home debut and flanker Alfie North making his 50th club appearance.

On a sunny but bitterly cold day, Richmond kicked off, playing up the slope into the sun. The game started with the usual exchange of kicks, ending with a Richmond lineout on halfway. George Merrick played for Richmond for two seasons as a young Harlequin and has amassed plenty of experience since in the Premiership and in France. He now plays for Chinnor and, from the start, was the dominant player in the line out.

Seizing possession, Chinnor moved the ball at pace, Worboys almost sending in one of the props with a clever overhead pass. Richmond held out at the cost of a penalty and this time the home pack drove over, with prolific ex Ealing hooker Alan Walker at the back. Worboys converted this try and the following four as well.

After seven minutes, Chinnor doubled their score and Worboys was again at the heart of it, ghosting through the Richmond defence to touch down under the posts. With just eleven minutes gone, Chinnor added a third, though this one was distinctly unlucky. A ricochet could have gone anywhere but landed obligingly in Chinnor hands. Richmond successfully tackled back at the corner, but Merrick was up in support to claim his side’s third try.

Finally, a rather shocked Richmond had a chance to regroup. The first scrum of the game offered some encouragement and Henry Cheeseman twice made clean breaks through the home defence, though the support was not close enough.

After sixteen minutes, Richmond managed to set up in the opposition 22 and steadily build pressure, as three successive penalties followed. With another advantage signalled, Richmond finally made it count, Luc Jones alert as ever for the opportunity and this time vaulting a body to get the touch down. Referee Adam Wookey kept his card in his pocket as Ted Landray converted.

The hope was that this would provide a boost but instead Chinnor added their fourth try after just 26 minutes. This time it was the burly outside centre Morgan Passman (ex Newcastle Falcons) who simply burst through two Richmond tackles to run on a straight line to the corner for a fine individual try.

The fifth try followed just after the half hour and resulted from a scrum penalty given against Richmond as the scrum collapsed. Chinnor kicked into the 22 and, when Richmond came offside, set up five metres out. The routine was well organised as the ball was shifted back to the posts before Worboys glided his way clear again. Richmond had a long passage of play under the Chinnor posts but could not make it count and half time came with a sobering 35-7 score line.

It could only get better and it did, but only after two more Chinnor tries. Richmond were losing the kicking battles, with Chinnor more precise and following up more effectively. Walker now got his second try from a five-metre lineout and then a flowing backs move up the left wing was finished by Passman for his second.

At this stage, Richmond dug deep, the substitutes adding energy, and perhaps Chinnor relaxed a bit. Whatever the cause, the penalty count turned firmly in Richmond’s favour with the replacement front row now very much dominant. Tom Hitchcock made a break in the centre and Richmond were able to kick for the corner. This time they secured possession and rumbled over, Alex Post the scorer and Landray the successful kicker.

Both sides were now running the ball at every opportunity and Chinnor got their eighth try next, courtesy of New Zealander Nick Smith (ex Biarritz). Once again, the try was well worked up the left touchline with excellent handling and support lines.

With Chinnor again conceding a sequence of penalties, Mr Wookey finally had enough, and Passman was invited to take ten minutes out. Richmond used the penalty to drive over from short range, Post again the scorer, with Jimmy Litchfield providing plenty of ballast.

Richmond had seven minutes to get a fourth try and a point and they soon had chances. However, errors looked like costing them as a lineout in the 22 went astray and a kick to the corner missed touch. Instead Ealing and ex Saints winger Josh Gillespie got Chinnor’s ninth try, one of the best of the afternoon as his team worked the space and built the tempo.

Richmond were in place to kick off, even as the conversion was being taken, and it paid off. Sean Kerr made the decisive break, shaking himself clear from a tackle before handing on to Hamish Graham. The winger did well to slip a pass inside to Hitchcock who still had a bit to do, stepping through the final tackle to get the try and a hard-earned league point.

Tries: Jones, Post (2), Hitchcock
Conversions: Landray (2), Kerr

Team: A. O’Meara, H.Graham, H.Cheeseman, T. Hitchcock, W.Kaye, T.Landray, L.Jones, L.Spring, A.Post, N.Mpiko, J.Monson, M.Murphy, L.Schmid, X.Hastings, E.Benson

Subs: C.Maguire, J.Litchfield, H.Wills, M.Marsh, S.Kerr