It was a spectacular weekend for the RRFC. Despite the fact that Velox defaulted their 2nd division game in place of a greatly bolstered 1st squad, the Surrey Beavers graciously pulled together a squad in preparation to play us for their tier II final next week. After some back and forth play in the opening phases Richmond was able to get the ball out wide to winger Matt Wong-Rose for the score in the corner, his first of two. Richmond played a conservative straight up game with straight running and good support. The referee despite being a little overzealous on the whistle kept Surrey’s forwards in line by penalizing them numerous times for coming offside. In a game stopped short by the referee, Richmond came out the victors with a 17-7 score.

The first division game was a do or die game for the squad, win and they’re in, lose and they’re out. The Velox were also recently coming off a 15-13 victory over league-leading Capilanos whom beat Richmond quite handily several weeks before.

The game from its outset did not dissapoint. Richmond maintained tight, secure ball against the much bigger Velox forwards. Only several minutes into the game Richmond had Velox moving from one side of the field to the other.It was capped off by a hard run and try by winger Martin Urbanowicz who ran over several defenders for the try, his first of two. Despite the Velox forwards dominating the lineouts, the Richmond forwards were able to maintain a relatively stable scrum. Very little kicking was done and it was apparent that the Richmond backline was much more threatening that the Velox backs, who seemed to be focused on Mark Gaudreault most of the game. This allowed the rest of the backs to find gaps and breaks. This was clearly a game in which Richmond showed up to play and the visitors just had no answer. It was clear early on that the Velox forwards would tire of the hectic pace set by Richmond.

Despite Richmond having a player in the bin, they scored 8 unanswered points.The second half saw more of the same with Richmond seemingly running tries in at will, while Velox were only able to slot 3 penalties. Things changed however, when Mike Marquardt was the recepient of a yellow card for repeated team infringements around the ruck. Velox came roaring back with two converted tries to make the score 38-23. The outcome of the game was never really in jeopardy but it would be a bad situation if Velox scored 4 tries or lost by less than seven points. This would have given them a bonus point and forced Richmond to face Capilanos in the 1st round of playoffs. Fortunately the defense remained solid once Marquardt came back on and Richmond was able to pull out the victory, 38-23. Tries were also scored by Alex Brown, Allen Tang, and Wayne Polutu, who almost had a second try against his former team after a great interception on our 10 meter line but was unable to sprint the entire distance partially due to a laughing fit because the lone Velox defender was his cousin who he was unable to run over.

Thanks for all the people who came out to support community day, all volunteers, concession staff, players, and the Red Mirchi for hosting after the game. A great time was had by all.

Finally, on Sunday the Richmond U-14 squad decimated Capilanos by a very large margin to place 3rd in the league and the Richmond U-16 squad who also played the Capilanos in the B.C. Provincial finals. From the outset it was relatively clear who had the better squad. Caps and Richmond were relatively equal in the forwards but by far the Richmond backs were superior in both attack and defense as evidenced by the two interception tries by the #11 Richmond winger. Richmond secures it’s second U-16 provincial title. Well done boys.

Next weeks games will be played on both Saturday and Sunday.

1st XV will be away on Saturday to Cowichan at 2:30

2nd XV will be at home on Sunday against the rowing club @ 1:00pm