Richmond 38 Bishop’s Stortford 1st XV 21
Stortford fought a tremendous rearguard action in the first half, getting out of their own half only 3 times and the majority of the rest pinned down in their own 22, yet turned round 7-14 up. Goal line defence from the visitors was superb, forcing error after error out of the Richmond’s all-action table-toppers. After only two minutes, a tremendous interception by Mike Cooke in his own 22 broke up a sequence of attacking phases from the home side and his kick ahead was perfectly judged, just about making the Richmond try-line, where Tom Mills won the race for the touchdown and a 0-5 lead, quickly made 7 by Cooke’s conversion. With Stortford struggling to string any possession together and the lineout spluttering, they had to soak up a lot more pressure on their line, but proved up to the huge challenges posed by the home side. A great turnover by Sam Johnson on his own 22 caught Richmond of-balance and a chip kick from Cooke bounced kindly for Mills, who gathered at full pace and was able to gallop clear for his second try under the posts, giving his flyhalf an easy conversion. The home side surged back onto the attack, but Stortford’s defence continued to hold tight. With 24 minutes gone, it looked as if the visitors had once again repelled a dangerous attack, when Harrison Langworthy worked his way into the middle of a driving maul from a Richmond 5m lineout to win a scrum. The ball was duly won, but the home scrum half seized on the ball, as Will Rogers broke off and was able to dive over the line unchallenged. The conversion halved his team’s deficit and gave renewed impetus to their stream of attacks. Stortford, nevertheless, dug deep and were able to battle their way to half time without any further concession.

The second period started as almost a mirror image of the first, with Stortford, this time on the attack, but a poor kick chase allowed the home 15 to break free and find a supporting backrow, who galloped over for an equalising try, with barely a minute gone. Worse was soon to come, however, when Richmond’s 10 emulated Cooke’s first half feat of intercepting a pass on his own 22, though in his case, he had the pace to run clear and touch down himself for another converted try. Richmond pressed again and, after Alex Gilham had been yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on, quickly added their 4th 7 pointer, through their 12. Stortford took similar advantage of a swing in their favour in playing numbers, when the home side saw their 12 and 5 yellow-carded in quick succession – the former for a blatant and forceful high tackle that might easily have incurred a red. Within a minute of the second card, Tom Mills went over under the posts for his hat-trick, after his pack had sucked in the defence with a couple of strong drives from a 5m lineout. Unfortunately for the many Stortford supporters present, their team managed to squander the remainder of their numerical advantage, allowing Richmond to dominate possession and, indeed, add 3 points from a breakdown offence penalty. The remainder of the game was dominated by the home side, who finally managed to turn a period of forward pressure into a try after 74 minutes to seal the result. Stortford battled to try and score the 4th try that would have brought a bonus point, but were unable to break down a strong home defence.