Rotherham Titans 31 Richmond 10 (B&I CUP)

Just one week off after tough league battles against top of the table sides Bristol and Ealing, a much depleted Richmond XV played well but were eventually beaten by a determined Rotherham side anxious to gain only a second win this season, writes Paul Kirby.

This was good news for their new young coach Nic Rouse, the former London Irish and Sale Sharks player.

A tough match was secured victory for the hosts by three tries to one. Richmond’s defence held firm until Rotherham’s Lee Miller opened the scoring with a penalty in the 23rd minute before centre Jamie Cooke ran in a good try.

Millar’s conversion sailed wide. The lead increased after 33 minutes with a further try this time from Drew Cheshire with Millar converting to increase the lead to 15-3 at the half after Ali Chisholm’s late penalty for Richmond. Richmond’s hard working prop Lorcan Dow was injured and was replaced by Adam Lee.

The second-half was really a repeat of the first half battle with Richmond conceding three penalties taken by Millar before resuming their attack scoring a very good try with eight minutes remaining. Harison Edwards and Rhodri Adamson combined well before passing the ball to Will Goodrick-Clarke who touched down, Chisholm converted well.

Richmond substitute half-backs Rory Damant and Luc Jones had entered the fray and played well but it was Rotherham who had the final say as referee Mike Hudson awarded a penalty try after Richmond were adjudged to have illegally pulled down a maul over their try line.

Speaking post-match Rotherham Coach Nic Rouse explained, “You can only play the team that’s in front of you and Richmond have suffered key injuries in the last few weeks and they had a mixed side out there. We applied ourselves really well and it’s a step in the right direction but we won’t get carried away.”

Steve Hill, Richmond FC Director of Rugby, commented; “Rotherham showed a lot of heart and desire today and deserved their win. Our lack of accuracy and precision gifted the ball too often to the home team and meant we were under pressure for much of the match.

"Even with players returning, we will need to see a significant improvement in our upcoming matches against Ealing and especially back to the league match over in Jersey.’’

Back at the Athletic ground Richmond 2’s won well against Jersey 2’s, 36 - 7.

Richmond scorers:

Tries: Goodrick-Clarke
Conversions: Chisholm
Penalties: Chisholm

Richmond Team: J.Simpson-Hefft, A.Chisholm, C.Mitchell ,C.Hudson, M.Freeman, F.Gabbitass (R.Damant), R.Adamson (L.Jones), W.Goodrick-Clarke, J.Phipps (J.Townsend), C.Trenier (J.Tarrant), S.South, F.Wem (M.Scott),  L.Dow (A.Lee), T.Sargeant, H.Edwards