Richmond 17 Nottingham 15

For the second time of the season, Richmond and Nottingham contested a tough physical game which ebbed and flowed and was only finally decided with the last action of the match. For once, Richmond got the rub of the green in the final minute, when an opposition penalty went wide, but overall, it was generally agreed that Richmond just deserved the victory. They take a welcome four points from the win, leaving them in 12th position, eight points behind Ampthill and four points ahead of the Scots.

Richmond had three starting changes from the side well beaten at Ealing, with the inclusion of Jared Cardew, Alex O’Meara and Jason Baggott. The injury list remains long, though there were some welcome returns in the midweek Vikings game.

Nottingham, who have close links with Leicester, started the match in seventh place after a good first half of the season. In the away game at The Bay, they held on for a 29-27 victory over a Richmond side, who very nearly claimed a win in the final minutes.

On a damp Friday night, both sides kept it tight in the opening minutes, with Richmond initially the dominant side. When Nottingham took the ball back into their 22 before kicking out on the full, Richmond had an early attacking position. From the line out, Richmond drove forward, drawing an offside under the posts. Skipper Alex Schwarz opted for the kick and Callum Grieve nailed the penalty for a 3-0 lead after four minutes.

For most of the time, defences dealt well with the towering box kicks but were more troubled when players were jolted back in the heavy tackles, making it hard to retain possession of the greasy ball.

Richmond soon had another chance in the opposition 22 but lost the ball after several phases, and Nottingham were alert, kicking deep down the touchline to earn a 50/22. In the next action, the dangerous Harry Graham broke back into the 22 and now it was Richmond’s turn to be penalised. This time Gwyn Parks converted a simple penalty.

Richmond looked to have the edge in the scrum, but the line outs were more nip and tuck. Alex Schwarz led the kicking game with some steepling box kicks, but the Nottingham back three were steady and had enough time to clear with relative ease. Graham next had another good run up the touchline, but Alex O’Meara did well to stop him on the outside.

In the 19th minute, Jared Cardew in turn made good ground with a sharp break, but Richmond were pinged in the follow up. It was not till the 30th minute that the first try was scored. Richmond made full use of a Nottingham penalty to kick to ten metres. Jake Monson secured the line out ball and, when the pack drove forward, the backs joined then to increase the momentum. Finally, they were stopped a couple of metres out, and the ever reliable Luke Spring, a candidate for man of the match, duly powered forward for the try, which Grieve converted.

There was hardly time to take a breath before Nottingham again levelled the scores. Richmond immediately came under pressure at the kick off and Schwarz took a knock, resulting in his substitution by Freddie Charles. From a five metre line out, Nottingham made slow ground and looked likely to be pushed into touch at the corner. However, hooker Jack Dickinson demonstrated very good footwork to twist over in the corner. Parks added a top notch conversion and the score at half time was 10-10.

Nottingham got the perfect start in the second half. Full back Harry Simpson drilled a perfect low kick down the left touchline which Grieve slid in to field. In the greasy conditions, the ball squirted loose, and Graham was first up to take advantage, grab the ball and claim the try. This time, the conversion from wide out just missed, so the deficit was five points.

Both sides had chances in the next half hour, but the defences held out. The Richmond tackling was again immense with man of the match Ethan Benson outstanding with his work rate. Miles Wakeling, who has excelled whether at lock or on the flank, was also once again prominent.

However, with the clock running down, Richmond needed a score and, whilst they were edging the final quarter, they could not find a breakthrough. When the replacement props came on, Richmond tightened their grip on the scrum and stayed more patient in the Nottingham 22. Time and again they got close as they barraged the line, but Nottingham held out. Finally, after 76 minutes, the cheer went up as Seb Brownhill burrowed over by the posts for another of his invaluable short range tries, converted by Grieve for a 17-15 lead.

The game seemed won, when Richmond then earned an attacking line out five metres out in the far corner. But it is never simple. The line out ball was not straight, and Nottingham somehow found the inspiration to accelerate out of the 22 into clear space. When they were illegally stopped by Grieve, Richmond were penalised and Grieve was given a yellow card. Nottingham now had the chance to get within kicking distance and win the game with a last minute penalty.

In desperation, Richmond tried to steal the line out ball but were further pinged for illegal contact. Nottingham had a chance to win the game with the last kick of the match. In the tension, the kick seemed to be taken from the wrong position, whilst barracking from an individual in the crowd helped nobody. Finally, there was silence and the unfortunate Parks, who had kicked so well from the touchline, now missed from a more central position. Who would be a kicker?

Rob Powell commented afterwards: ‘‘We’ve not always had the rub of the green this year, losing out on five or six occasions. At their place, we should have nicked it in the final minutes. Tonight, it was a bit harem scarem at the end, and we don’t want to win by another player missing a kick, but over the balance of the game, I thought we deserved to win.’

Nottingham Head Coach Craig Hammond was splendidly philosophical: ‘We came down with a good plan but in that first half we weren’t good enough with eleven turnovers, mainly in our half. In the second half, we played really well for 20 minutes, then a bit of discipline let us down and they scored a try. We could have pipped them at the end, but did we deserve to? Not really.’

Team: C.Grieve, C.Obonna, P.Case, J.Baggott, A.O’Meara, A.Burrage, A,Schwarz, T.Bevacqua, W.Goffey, L.Spring, J. Monson, D.Ormerod, M.Wakeling, J.Cardew, E.Benson
Subs C.Torpey, S.Brownhill, C.Freeman, D.Byrne, H.Wills, F.Charles, L.Dennett, R.Du Randt

Tries: L.Spring, S.Brownhill
Conversions: Grieve (2)
Penalties: Grieve