On a brisk but sunny morning at the Athletic Ground, RFC hosted Battersea Ironsides in the last group game of the Quins Cup. Originally scheduled to be at their ground in Earlsfield, their waterlogged pitch forced a reschedule and Richmond set out to entertain a lively home crowd, knowing that a win would virtually guarantee a place in the semifinals.

Richmond seemed lacking in intensity in the warm up and this translated into the game. Some poor positioning and bad decision making gifted territory and then space out wide that Battersea converted into a try.

Stung into action, Richmond used good forward play interlaced with some width to match up the pitch allowing Zac to dot down. Richmond repeated this approach which enabled Will W to get a score. Our defence was coping well and we limited Battersea to only the odd foray. Will W collected a second try after good work by forwards and backs again.

As per our ethos we try to ensure all boys play at least half the game and it a credit to the whole squad that we never see one boy give less than their all irrespective if they are a starter or a finisher.

The second half started a bit scrappy enabling the Battersea dangerous centre to wriggle free and score. This same player was unfortunate to then bang his head in some following action and the game was suspended for 10 minutes while the appropriate protocols were followed. Just before that we had the strangest passage of play where Battersea, keen to clear their lines kicked to the halfway line. Elliot fielded the loose ball, preceded to side step and fend his way through at least 7 players but with the try line beckoning he opted to pass inside only for the ball to go to ground. Hard luck but again it showed that we were creating good opportunities but with a little more precision we will really profit.

After the game recommenced our much improved defence kept Battersea pinned down and through strong play we again created gaps that Kai beautifully exploited by straightening up and going over under the posts.

Battersea hit back in our corner after again chasing a good kick, however Richmond closed out the game by marching straight up the other end and again pulling batterseas defence out of position allowing will w to complete his hat trick. Battersea 15 Richmond 27
While there are a few standouts - Zac, James, Will and Jay were ceaseless in their tackling. Otto settled in well at centre, all half back pairings kept us ticking over nicely. Kai and Desi hit it up the middle nicely - it is the squad as a whole that are building the momentum and performing each week.

Squad today was:
Raiph, Desi, Zac, Nic, Spencer, James, Cormac, Tom W, Will W, Freddie, Tom H, Matteo, Kai, Otto, Jay, Harry, Elliot, Adam, George, Louis, Toby, Hugo