Richmond sealed their place at the top of the Premiership with an organised 29-5 victory at Team Northumbria, writes Aoife Hogan.

Despite errors at the final pass and a dominant Northumbria front row, Richmond ran in five tries to their hosts’ one.

Northumbria conceded a fatal penalty in the first 10 minutes when they took down wing Claire Allan after she made a blistering run down the left to get within metres of the try line.

Quick thinking captain Amy Turner took the tap and go while Northumbria were still organising their defence and dived over the line on the 10 minute mark.

The next 15 minutes saw a flurry of tries from Richmond as Alice Richardson scored twice and Claire Allan gathered a great chip from Richardson to outsprint the Northumbria defence and score her first try for Richmond this season.

It was only a matter of time before Team Northumbria changed tack and going down 24-0 in the 25th minute was the catalyst for that.

They dominated the remainder of the first half with a succession of pick-and-gos leading to their first try after 35 minutes.

Northumbria trailed 24-5 at half-time, but continued their fine forward play after the restart.

However, despite dominating possession for most of the 40 minutes, they were unable to garner anymore try opportunities as Richmond controlled the territory with their relentless defence.

Man of the match Vickii Cornborough was excellent around the park and showed outstanding scrummaging against two experienced England props.

Despite being denied much possession due to the slow, close play of the Northumbria pack Richmond remained in control by playing a superb kicking game.

Richardson broke this mould as she planted well thought-out kicks that inspired her back line into some enthralling moves.

It led to Allan scoring her second try of the game in the final quarter and finishing things 29-5 to give the visitors something to smile about on the long bus journey back home.

Richmond play Worcester in their first home game this Sunday (2.30pm), with the club’s two other women’s teams also playing on home soil.

Scorers: Richmond: Tries: Turner (10mins), Richardson (15m, 25m), Allan (20m, 65m), Conversions: Richardson, 2.

Richmond squad: A Chamberlain, F Matthews, J O’Sullivan (rep C Allan from 11), R Burford, C Allan (rep V Blakebrough), A Richardson, A Turner (c), V Cornborough, E Layland, A Butler (rep C Rennison), R Burnfield, S Anastasi, B Essex, L Jenkins, S Brown (rep O Davies).