Richmond women returned to action this weekend in the second round of the pool stages in the Senior Cup tournament, running out against Worcester.
Both teams were without their international players who are on Six Nations duty, meant that the encounter between these two sides was a much closer affair than it was in the premiership games.
The cup provided both teams with the chance to blend experienced premiership players with those from the second teams. But Worcester arguably had more shoes to fill.
Richmond were slow to get started in the opening quarter of the game and it wasn’t long before Worcester took their opportunity to pounce. Sam Bree showed her electric pace to get first points on the board for Worcester and before Richmond knew it they were trailing 7-0.
Richmond looked to strike back and hooker Davinia Monteiro danced her way through the defence and made a great break to put Worcester on the back foot. But some in-precise handling meant Worcester turned the ball over and ran right back into Richmond territory. A second try soon game and Worcester found themselves 12-0 up.
But the pack of the mighty ‘mond dug the team out of trouble and provided solid possession of the ball for the backs. A dominant force in the scrum all season, the Richmond pack drove the scrum forwards over the try line when they were 5metres out. They were awarded a penalty try for their efforts, which was converted by Amy Turner.
Both teams struggled to get a foothold in the game as the half wore on. Bright sparks for Richmond came from the centre pairing of Vic Britand and Captain Holly Myers who cut some great lines.
Then against the run of play, winger Katie Wallis burst through the defence and sprinted 40metres down the pitch to score Richmond’s second try in the corner.
The game was open and Richmond looked to use their advantage of their stronger pack. They opted for the scrum from a penalty deep in Worcester’s 22 and launched an attacking move which saw flanker Libby Povey touch down across the line.
Just before half time Monteiro was next to get on the scoresheet when she cut a great, short line against the drifting defence to score under the posts. Richmond went into half time leading 24-12.
The second half picked up where the first half left off as neither side was truly able to find their rhythm or assert themselves on the game. Littered with knock on’s and penalties, both sides began to make substitutions.
Tackles were getting bigger but play was pretty frantic. Worcester scored another unconverted try, swiftly followed by an intercept try from Sam Bree who picked off a long pass from Abi Chamberlain in Worcester territory. The conversion was good making the score 24 all heading into the closing stages of the game.
Richmond piled the pressure on in the last few minutes as they were awarded a penalty in the Worcester 22. They went for the catch and drive off the 5metre lineout but Worcester held them up.
Awarded another penalty, Nicole Kwee took a quick tap and linked up with Povey before squeezing over to claim the winning try herself.
The final score was 29-24. Despite the high penalty count against Richmond and the string of handling errors making the game less than pretty, they got the all important win as they target a top two finish in their pool.
Report courtesy of Richmond LRFC
