Richmond 51 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 10

Richmond started the game playing an expansive, running and offloading game, but Stortford stood up well to the early onslaught and, when the home side knocked on inside the visitors' 22 with 4 minutes gone were quick to counterattack. Nick Hankin seized on the loose ball and made ground before finding Josh Stannard with a long pass, putting the centre outside the Richmond defence on the left. Having made some 30 yards, he found Chris Smith supporting on the inside, who galloped into the opposition 22 and offloaded to George Cullen, who went in for a try under the posts, which he then converted. The lead unfortunately lasted only a couple of minutes, when Richmond, again threatening inside Stortford's 22 were awarded a breakdown penalty, took a quick tap and fullback, Louis Lynagh dashed through for a try, converted by Tom Hodgson. The game continued at a high pace, with Richmond dominating possession, but met by solid Stortford defence, until Stortford won a scrum for a knock-on under their posts, only to concede a penalty at the set piece and Hodgson took the 3 points. Richmond's lead was stretched to 10 points with 22 minutes gone, when 3 further penalties in a row against Stortford moved the opposition 50 or 60 metres upfield. ending with a 5 metre lineout. The initial driving maul was stopped, though the ref. deemed it to have been collapsed, but, with advantage being played, Richmond exploited their forward momentum for Cam Mitchell to go in for a try, again converted by Hodgson. Outweighed and outgunned in the scrums and with their lineout misfiring, Stortford were able to win only scant possession but managed to drive their way upfield , where Cullen kicked a penalty goal to take the score to 17-10 at half time.

The game continued in similar vein after the break, with Richmond going through multiple phases of hard running possession on numerous occasions, but met, in the early stages by strong Stortford defence. The visitors even managed to mount a couple of strong scrums, with Ben Harrison Price now on at tighthead - one notably led to a Stortford penalty under their own posts, after Richmond had opted for a scrum from a penalty of their own. Normal service was resumed a few minutes later, though, as Stortford knocked on clumsily just outside their 22, with the home side winning a scrum penalty and Hodgson adding another 3 points after 56 minutes. Richmond's attacking rugby finally reached a pitch with which Stortford couldn't cope, when they ran back a loose Stortford kick and quick feet and hands and well-judged offloads produced a tremendous team try close to the posts after 61 minutes, giving Hodgson an easy conversion. Prompted by a very lively replacement scrumhalf, fresh off the bench, the home side now took total control and, with the Stortford side visibly wearying from their afternoon's labours of almost constant defending, Richmond piled on the pressure and ran in 4 more tries in the last 10 minutes. With the speed and force of the visitors' defence much diminished, the hosts ran riot and with clinical finishing now added to their continued running and supporting game, they almost doubled their score during this short period.

Team: Nel, Petty, McCrone, Thacker, Lewis, Ball, Elsom, Kingham (C), Hankin, Ayrton M, Stannard, Keen, Smith, Cullen, Gliksten.
Replacements: Harrison-Price, Huppatz, Jones, Pope, Banks.