Richmond women defended well in only their second match of the season, but still lost 20-14 away to Saracens.
With fly-half Alice Richardson's boot relieving the pressure, Richmond limited Saracens to an 8-0 lead in the first 30 minutes - a penalty and a try by England flanker Maggie Alphonsie.
Richmond responded when full-back Claire Davies burst through for Richardson to convert.
Second-half pressure caused Richmond to infringe and back rower Laura Jenkins was sin-binned. Alphonsie added a further two tries to secure her hat- trick, with club and country team mate Karen Andrew converting the last.
Richmond replied with a debut try by Irish winger Lynn Cantwell, Richardson adding the touchline conversion.
The final whistle forced the visitors to settle for a single point, leaving them two points adrift of the top spot before their third fixture against Blaydon this Sunday.
Richmond: Davies, Wakeford, Drinkwater, Kerr, Cantwell, Richardson, Meston, Findlay, Layland, Mason (captain), Anastasi, Essex, Jenkins, Cornborough, Muir. Replacements: Bredin, Butler, Vanerman, Lee, Chow.
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