Richmond got off to the best of starts against bottom of the league Worcester Valkyries, quickly recycling ball and unleashing Emelie Hellgren who scored down the wing. Chamberlain opted not to wait for the tee, but duly drop kicked to dissect the posts; 7-0.
Hellgren was involved in Richmond’s second try offloading to opposite wing De Rossi who put full-back Wallis away. Chamberlain converted off the post; 14-0.
After 21 minutes Richmond scored a third, this time it was a classic forwards drive over the line with Captain Burnfield being credited for the touchdown. Chamberlain added the extras, 21-0.
Despite the score line, the home side certainly weren’t having it all their own way. Worcester stemmed the tide with a scything run through midfield from Brooklyn Clarke who opened the visitors account. Unconverted; 21-5.
Fran Hall was then yellow carded, but Richmond continued to batter the Worcester defence, which held firm. An interception from the away team relieved the pressure and the first half was brought to a close with no further scores.
Worcester opened the second half with a period of pressure on the Richmond line. However, they were first held up over the line and when Richmond drove back their maul, the Londoner’s got hold of the ball for the first time in the half.
There were moments of threat from Richmond when attacking in the opposition 22, but mistakes and dropped passes repeatedly let the Valkyries off the hook. The Richmond crowd thought Wong had finally opened the second-half scoring, but the final pass was forward. Richmond got another chance to attack as the referee returned to an earlier penalty.
From the resultant scrum penalty Richmond were awarded a penalty try from their best scrum of the match, which Worcester could only resist illegally; 28-5.
Worcester were next on the scoreboard thanks to a perfectly timed pass that saw wing Clarke through in space for her second of the match. The kick was successful and the gap was closed to 28-12 after 62 minutes.
From a well taken lineout, the Richmond forwards then burst towards the Worcester line before unleashing the backs who had numbers on their opposition. Kirsty Lee Griffiths dully scored with her first touch of the ball. Unconverted 33-12.
The next try again came from the solid base of the lineout with the Richmond maul catapulting Phelps over. Chamberlain was unsuccessful with the boot leaving the score 38-12.
Richmond were now playing with their tails up, running with confidence and offloading with skill. In a bizarre turn of events Richmond were, however, reduced to 14 as the Referee removed a player judging her injured despite being cleared to continue by the medical teams.
Despite this disadvantage they scored another when Libby Povey cleanly took a kick on her own 10 metre line before running all the way to dot down on her Premier 15s debut. Unconverted it was 43-12.
Richmond were then reduced to 13 after a further injury, but Worcester remained on the back foot. A devastating run through midfield from Laura Kapo on her 100th appearance put the Worcester defence into disarray. Emily Stone was the beneficiary scoring the final points of the day. Richmond deservedly earned themselves a bonus point win and the match finished 48-12.
Richmond
Wallis, Hellgren, Wong, Barber, De Rossi, Chamberlain, Clarke, Kapo, Mignot, Meki, Burnfield, Hobday, Barber, Hall, Phelps
Replacements
Butler, Barnett, Povey, Stone, Britland, Griffiths, Lose
Worcester Valkyries
Laflin, Clarke, Varley, Bennion, McGahan, James, Parker, Gondwe, Davies, Leatherhead, Bunce, Black, Roslund, Wood, Brincat.
Replacements
Tremelling, English, James, Wilcock, Herring, Clarke, Gingell
Report courtesy of Richmond FC
