Richmond too strong in battle of old foes
CHAMPIONSHIP side Richmond scored nine tries as they eased past London rivals Blackheath on Friday evening.
The oldest club fixture was resumed after a threeyear break due to Covid-19 and Richmond director of rugby Steve Hill enjoyed reigniting the rivalry and coming up against the side he used to turn out for 35 years ago.
Hill said: “It was the first recognised club fixture and for me it’s always a bit special because Blackheath is where I played post-university and that’s why we always try and play them.
“We played each other for 60 years straight and unfortunately Covid got in the way because we were Championship and they were National 1, so we were keen to get back into it this pre-season.
“It was a really good hit out and they clicked really well so we’re looking forward to carrying on with our preseason.
“Blackheath like to play ball in hand but it a was very physical game. The scrums were very competitive but in the second of the three sessions we got on top a bit as our second string scrum is a bit stronger than theirs.
“And when we offloaded
we made a lot of line breaks and they didn’t deal with that well.
“It’s never really about the result in pre-season but to get a winning feeling can never be sniffed at. It was a complete performance from the whole team.”
Blackheath made a strong start and scoring out wide through Nick Foster after five minutes.
The Richmond response was swift, with skipper Mark Bright resuming his regular try scoring routine from No.8 and this was quickly followed by a strong Richmond driving maul try with both tries converted by Ted Landray.
Richmond full-back Owain James did very well to collect and score from an accurate Hamish Graham kick and this was followed after a series of
drives to the line by a short range try for second row Jake Monson.
The third Richmond score of the second period was a well worked try by centre Zuriel Makele.
In the final period a combination of strong defence and the ambition to offload out of the tackle saw Richmond tries for centre Raz Patel and fly-half Landray, while another driving maul try saw hooker Callum Torpay add to the score sheet.
Blackheath fought gallantly and played well throughout, especially at the breakdown, and were rewarded with an excellent try from Alex Witchell following a lineout peel.
Richmond rounded off the win with Jack Johnson’s late try.