Richmond 31 Caldy 12

Richmond picked up five invaluable points against Caldy after a fine performance in the first of their ‘return fixture’ games. In a season when a number of games have been lost by agonisingly close calls, Richmond this time held the lead from the sixth minute right through to the end.

With London Scottish losing and Cambridge drawing, twelfth placed Richmond now hold a lead of five points over the Scots and fourteen points over Cambridge. More ambitiously, Richmond are eight points below eleventh placed Doncaster.

Richmond made seven changes to the starting XV against the Scots and were then forced into an eighth with the late withdrawal of the injured Lucas Schmidt. It has been a tough season for injuries, many long term and in overlapping positions. Caldy have had a good season, with their two most recent victories having elevated them to eighth in the league table.

With the forecast rain holding off, it was the strong wind which most influenced the match. When Richmond kicked off, the force of the wind promptly blew the kick dead. In the tricky conditions, neither side could keep possession and Jake Monson made it harder for Caldy by charging down the intended clearance from their 22. The ricochet of the ball did not directly favour Richmond, but it did keep them on the front foot. When Caldy box kicked their next clearance, Josh Addams was first to it and, when the ball was moved down the line, a long pass gave Chidera Obonna the chance for a break down the right wing. He made good ground and, when stopped, found the supporting Paddy Case, who had the pace to complete the try. Callum Grieve added a tricky conversion, which further helped morale.

The Richmond tackling was a feature all game and a shuddering combination tackle by Xav Hastings and Sam Pim abruptly curtailed Caldy’s ambitions. A minute later, Monson managed another charge down to keep Caldy pinned in their 22. When Richmond were awarded a penalty, they then kicked to the corner. Monson secured the line out ball, and the Richmond pack drove to the line with Will Goffey in vanguard position. Once again, Grieve nailed the conversion despite that wind.

14-0 up and looking full of running, Richmond needed as many points as possible before playing into the wind in the second half. So, it was a big blow when No 8 Pim was given a 20 minute red card for a high tackle. In real time, the tackle looked innocuous, and there was minimal crowd reaction. However, after a general melee, referee Alex Thomas conferred with his assistants before sending Pim on his way.

Richmond now had to play the rest of the first half a man short and their scoreboard ambitions had to be mixed with the need to adapt their defensive line up. After six minutes, the task got tougher again as Caldy opened their score with a trademark try.

After conceding a penalty, Richmond managed to stop the pick and drives close to the line but, when Caldy moved the ball out to the right, quick hands took advantage of a one man overlap, allowing Ollie Hearn to touch down half way out. Kieran Wilkinson added the conversion, and the lead was just seven after 25 minutes.

Importantly, it was Richmond who got the last points of the first half. Monson took a fearful clobbering as an attack was stopped on the edge of the Caldy 22. From the scrum, James Langston, playing his best game yet in Richmond colours, ran a lovely dummy line to create space for Case to send Grieve clear to the posts.

The half time score was 21-7. Was it enough? Richmond could now bring on a fifteenth man and Dan Ormerod was given the toughest of challenges in his longest Champ game. He did well. For twenty minutes, Caldy did everything to try to reduce that lead. In the first five minutes, they had four penalties in a row, each time setting up with short range line outs. Caldy score a lot of tries from their line out drives but not this time. The Richmond defence was superb as Caldy were frustratingly stopped and driven back.

Caldy rang the changes and varied the tactics, but Richmond kept tackling, man of the match Hastings and Ethan Benson never far from the action and Alex Schwarz offering all his experience in managing the game. Up front Luke Spring was immense and, in the centre, Case and Langston constantly forced gaps in the Caldy defence in addition to their defensive efforts.

Nevertheless, Richmond were leaking penalties and the game remained in the balance. Caldy tried to move the ball wide, away from the traffic, but twice a foot in touch cost them progress. After 61 minutes, Richmond had their first attack of the half, down the left flank deep into the Caldy half, but a handling error thwarted them.

Six minutes later, they attacked down the same wing and this time finished the move impeccably. The outstanding Case made the initial break before passing to Addams. The winger in turn found skipper Schwarz in support. It looked as if the scrum half would be caught a few metres short, but he turned for support and threw a perfect pass back to Addams, who deservedly got the try. 26-7, with just over ten minutes left, Richmond were surely home and dry.

Caldy never give up and, with six minutes left, got their second try from a line out drive. Cal Ridgway was the scorer.

But the final word was Richmond’s, and it was earned by the pack, who all contributed manfully. Harry Hocking got the touchdown from a line out drive and there was no time left for anything but celebration.

Rob Powell commented afterwards: ‘We have had a lot of adversity in the last few weeks and months, and it’s easy to drop your performance. But today proved that we are very much in the fight and that we care a lot about each other as a group. We lost a player yesterday and we still have some men injured, but we deserved the win today against a Caldy side who pride themselves on their fight. Today we matched that intensity and endeavour. Hopefully it provides extra confidence moving forward’

Team: C.Grieve, C.Obonna, P.Case, J.Langston, J.Addams, A.Burrage, A,Schwarz, T.Bevacqua, W.Goffey, L.Spring, J. Monson, M.Wakeling, T.Benson, X.Hastings, A.Pim
Subs: H.Hocking, S.Brownhill, C.Freeman,D.Ormerod, H.Wills, F.Charles, C.Slevin, R.Du Randt

Tries: Case, Goffey, Grieve, Addams, Hocking
Conversions: Grieve (3)