Richmond 40 Ampthill 42

After dominating the first two thirds of this game, Richmond were nineteen points up against an Ampthill side, who looked increasingly devoid of ideas. However, the momentum of the game totally changed when the visitors promptly scored a smart interception try to close the scoreline gap to a manageable twelve points.

In the final ten minutes, Richmond were then left to cling on to a lead reduced to just five points. They defended valiantly but Ampthill stayed patient and scored the winning try after their pack had probed the defence for a full six or seven minutes .

For the first league game of the season, Richmond introduced three new players in the starting fifteen, locks Hugo Culverhouse (Tonbridge Juddians and Guernsey) and Charlie Bell (Exeter Chiefs) as well as winger Sam Reynolds (Oxford Uni). On the bench, other newcomers were centre Sam Riman (Loughborough Uni) and back row forward Fergus Dick (Oxford Uni).

Ampthill, retaining their strong Saracen links, had four new starters, including ex Richmond lock George Nugent. Their latest recruit, announced last week, was winger Joe Browning, who has a formidable try scoring record and included Leicester Tigers among his previous clubs.

In front of a large and enthusiastically noisy crowd, Richmond kicked off, playing into a lively headwind. After some early box kicking by both sides, Ampthill had the first serious attack when they used the first penalty to work their pack across the Richmond posts. However, Richmond defended well and held up their opponents to win the drop out.

James Langston, who had a fine game, then made a good break, but his pass to Paddy Case was cut off, providing Richmond with their first penalty. Josh Addams made a strong attempt to get the ball down in the corner but was just in touch.

However, Richmond persisted and, when awarded two successive penalties, got the drive going from five metres out, with Will Goffey getting the touchdown. Unfortunately, Callum Grieve missed the conversion, when the ball was blown off the tee, and the kick had to be rushed. Those two points ...

Just before the twenty minute mark, Ampthill scored their first try, with full back Eliott Gourlay finding a midfield gap to run thirty metres. Grieve did well to make a tackle but was penalised. From the corner, Ampthill used Browning to lurk behind the pack before twisting and turning his way over the line. Young Saracen Luke Davidson, who kicked six out of six, scored the first of his seventeen points with the conversion.

In the set scrums, Ampthill’s were well contained, their formidable front row being well held and restricted to just one scrum penalty. A run of other penalties resulted in a stern test of Richmond’s defence, but they held out well until they were cut open by a repeat of the Gourlay move, Tongan No 8 Tino Mapapalangi running clear from forty metres for a 5-12 lead.

However, in the last ten minutes of the half, there was a significant twist in the score. First Jared Cardew burrowed over after the Richmond pack barraged the Ampthill line. Then, following some inadvertent ricochets, Ampthill had to defend a line out close to their line. The visitors then got penalised for dummying the throw in. Once again, the home pack got a good drive going and Hastings, who had replaced the injured O’Dea, was in pole position to claim the try. Suddenly the half time score was a healthy 19-14.

Richmond got off to a good re-start when Addams successfully followed up the kick off to force an Ampthill drop out. Reynolds was almost clear on the far right wing but was just caught a couple of metres short. However, the support was excellent, possession was retained and Hastings got his second try as the forwards rumbled towards the line.

Three minutes later, Richmond extended their lead. Under pressure, Ampthill were now making regular errors, and a crooked line out throw handed further possession to Richmond. The ball was worked down the back line and Langston forced a defensive gap and then bravely dummied his pass for a deserved try. The conversion took the score to 33-14.

With Browning clearly their danger man, Ampthill made wholesale changes to their pack and took every chance to get the ball out to the wide left. Time and again, Browning blasted his way up field and next Grieve did well to stop him. However, Ampthill were quickly up in support and Tayo Adegbemile completed the move closer to the posts.

Twelve points ahead after 51 minutes, Richmond needed another score and they got it. Using quick possession from a scum, Paddy Case put in a perfect kick to the corner and the speeding Addams did very well to beat the cover and get the touchdown. The score was now 40-21 and there were twenty-five minutes to go.

Full of confidence, Richmond looked likely to add to their score. However, in the 58th minute, Richmond tried a long and ambitious pass to the wide left and it was too easy for the tall Davidson to pick off and run forty metres to the posts.

The lead was back to twelve points and, four minutes later, it was down to five. Once more Browning drew in more defenders before the ball was moved back across the field for a try by centre Fraser Rawlins.

Richmond had just over fifteen minutes to hold on to their lead or, better, to add to it. A likely looking interception looked promising, but referee Hamish Grant was not persuaded. With five minutes to go, Richmond got a free kick from a set scrum and took the chance to kick deep. However, Ampthill now looked threatening every time the backs opened up, and it required a really gutsy tackle from Alex Schwarz to haul down winger Browning.

However, in the follow up, Richmond were penalised for not releasing and the pressure from this moment was unrelenting. The home defence could not have given more as Ampthill swarmed around the posts. Every time Richmond halted their opponents, another penalty would require more heroics in defence. There were frequent stops as players from both sides needed treatment for cramp. Hill was carded and Hastings had a nasty shoulder injury.

Ampthill just needed to stay patient and avoid an error and to their credit, they did. Finally, around the 85th minute, hooker Harrison Dakin claimed the try, converted by Davidson, for a heart wrenching victory.

Under the new points system, Ampthill get four points and Richmond one. Four teams are yet to register a point.

Rob Powell commented ‘Obviously there was a lot of very good stuff out there, that we are happy about, but as a bit of a rule of thumb, if you’re three tries ahead in a game, you’ve got to be good at closing it out. Unfortunately, we came up with too many individual errors in attack and defence. We probably had the opportunities to win the game comfortably and should have taken the points, but Ampthill kept on fighting.’

Starters: C.Grieve, S.Reynolds, P.Case, J.Langston, J.Addams, J.Baggott, A.Schwarz, T.Bevacqua, W.Goffey, L.Spring, C.Bell, H.Culverhouse, J.Monson, J.Cardew, J.J.O’Dea

Replacements: H.Hocking, C.Freeman, T.Gibson, F.Dick, X.Hastings, M.Marsh, L.Dennett, T.Riman

Tries: Goffey, Cardew, Hastings (2), Langston, Addams
Conversions: Grieve (5)