Richmond 52 Shelford 17

Shelford must have rubbed their eyes in disbelief as Richmond looked unrecognisable from the side which lost 49-17 in the November encounter.

Shelford have suffered a number of injuries in recent games and were under strength but Richmond were similarly lacking the experience of Sean Flynn, Alex Maclennan, Danny Parkinson and Ed Rosa.

Richmond’s large first team pool has stood them in good stead when faced by injuries, no less than 49 players having taken the field.

But some more settled combinations in recent weeks have offered continuity, and victories in the last two games have provided much needed confidence.

The visitors started the game strongly, enjoying early territorial advantage, though Richmond looked dominant in the scrum.

The early turning point was an interception try and, almost inevitably, it was the prolific Johnny Wehbe (eight tries in twelve games) who ran in from 70 metres as a Shelford attack ran out of puff.

Matt Hart added the conversion, as he did for the next five tries.

After 14 minutes, Richmond’s dominance was put under challenge when skipper Henry Head was invited by the referee, Marius Mitrea, to take a 10-minute break.

A yellow card is customarily worth one or two scores and so it proved.

The difference this time was that it was the under strength Richmond team who enjoyed the advantage by scoring two tries and fourteen unanswered points.

The first try followed an excellent touch kick from Luke Cousins, which set up a line out in prime position.

The ball was swung along the back line to the strong running David West, who was initially held by full back Chris Glynn but slipped the tackle and ran in his first try of the season.

Four minutes later, Richmond attacked again, the unfortunate Glynn dropping a hopeful high kick.

The forwards and backs worked well together to retain the ball through several phases and the bullocking Darryl Marfo smashed his way to the line for his third try in five games.

By now Richmond were in resurgent mood and running the ball at Shelford with confidence and skill. Winning a stream of good quality possession, the forwards provided ready ball for the backs.

Nick Moore and Joe Brown worked together well in the centre and both wingers were elusive, looking for work and linking up well.

With the skipper back on the field, Richmond scored two more tries before half time though, in truth, they could have scored more, such was their dominance and the quality of their support play.

In the 35th minute, Johnny Wehbe was just held, a metre short, after a good Richmond scrum and Luke Cousins reacted well to get the touch down.

And then, two minutes into injury time, the elusive Wehbe was again stopped close to the line but the ball was recycled and the deserving Joe Brown had the pace to score the fifth try and take the half time score to an unlikely 35-0.

The second half was almost bound to be an anti climax and so it proved.

The wind now gusted strongly, giving new impetus to the shell-shocked Shelford side. An early Richmond attack came close but the opportunity was lost with a misfired cross kick.

Shelford then established position in the Richmond 22 and the home side slipped into some customary errors, kicking away possession and trying to run the ball without doing the basics.

Richmond escaped on one occasion, a lovely clean break from the powerful Moore being well finished by Laithwaites’ man of the match Joe Brown for his second try.

But Shelford were now dominant, which did at least give a chance for Richmond to demonstrate some excellent defence, the tackling proving robust and reliable.

It soon became apparent that Shelford’s only effective recourse was the driving maul.

Twice this proved significant, Miles Anderson being driven over from the first and the persevering Sam Hoad slipping round the blind side for the second after a rolling maul was initially driven back.

With five minutes to go, the game appeared likely to finish on a slightly flat note for Richmond. Fortunately they now regained focus and finished with two more well worked tries.

Peter Clarke, surely another candidate for man of the match, picked up from another strong scrum and ran round the blind side for the seventh try.

And finally, Tristan Wesley, mysteriously sent off in the teams’ first encounter, was just denied a compensatory try.

However quick ball was again won and David West powered over to give Richmond an excellent 52-12 win and to complete what must have been their performance of the season.

Next week Richmond travel to Lydney in pursuit of their fourth successive win. Kick off is 3pm.

Tries: Wehbe, West(2), Marfo, Cousins, Brown(2) Clarke

Conversions: Hart (6)

Team: M.Hart, D.West, N.Moore (T.Gregory), J.Brown, L.Cousins, T.Henry (C.Jackson), A.Lyon, J.Phipps (J.Clapson), D.Marfo (A.Friel) , H.Head (C), T.Wesley, T.George, J.Downey (T.Sadler), P.Clarke.