Richmond 36 v Blackheath 27.

The annual trip to the Richmond Athletic Ground is always ringed in heavy black ink on the Blackheath calendar, and once again the occasion lived up to its billing. Even the autumn sun had made a note in its diary and duly turned up on cue to illuminate this glorious setting, while on the pitch itself both sets of players produced a fine physical encounter with nine tries, all scored from open play.

For Blackheath of course there will be the inevitable disappointment of defeat, tempered by the reward for scoring four tries, which might have been doubled, but for Rob Kirby’s late penalty. However, Richmond were deserved winners, and held the upper hand from the 17th minute when Chris Davies was fed from a ruck and spotted a gap along the left touchline to break the deadlock.

Three minutes later and Davies’ second-row colleague Will Warden was breaking tackles down the opposite flank, and as Blackheath’s desperate defence tried to get back to cover, fly-half Andy Hall crashed over. Alex Gallagher quickly responded with a penalty to get the visitors on the scoreboard, but as the Richmond rush defence caused the Club to lose possession in their twenty-two, number-eight Joe Burton added a third try which, with a second successful conversion from Kirby, put the hosts 19-3 ahead.

It wasn’t just Richmond’s direct lines of running in attack that gave Blackheath difficulties. Their well-drilled defence also thwarted the Club, particularly during the opening minutes when the visitors battered away to no avail.

However, the Richmond line-out was a shambles and just as the Surrey side threatened to run amok, stolen ball gave Blackheath the platform to strike back as half-time approached. With Tom Bason and Jesse Liston making inroads, some neat interplay between Tom Chapman and Richard Windsor out wide on the left saw the latter cross the try-line. A poor kick from defence was then promptly moved to Mike Canty who glided around a static defence from half-way to reduce the arrears to just four points at the break.

By the hour-mark, however, Richmond had once again established a significant lead. An improved performance from the Club set-scrum withstood a five-metre effort five minutes into the second period, but the hosts kept the pressure on the goal-line until Hall crossed for his second try, and soon after, as Blackheath had two men being treated in this attritional battle, the tackles ran out for wing William Browne to score, Kirby striking a fourth conversion for a 33-15 lead.

Nevertheless, still Blackheath refused to lie down. In the 61st minute Canty found a lovely pass out wide for Chapman, the right-wing doing well to break the final tackle (suffering injury as a result) and cross in the right corner. And then as the game moved into its final ten minutes, Canty himself was the recipient after great work from Markus Burcham in midfield released the full-back down the right-wing for his second try which, with Gallagher’s conversion, brought the Kent side within striking range of Richmond’s tally. However, the last word fell to Canty’s opposite number. As Kirby’s 79th minute penalty sailed through the uprights and towards the Triple Crown public house, with it went any hope of a late turnaround.

Next Saturday, Blackheath return to Rectory Field for the visit of Macclesfield. Kick-off is 3.00 pm.

Richmond.

Tries: Davies, Hall 2, Burton, Browne.

Conv: Kirby 4.

Pens: Kirby.

Blackheath.

Tries: Windsor, Canty 2, Chapman Conv: Gallagher 2.

Pens: Gallagher.