It’s hard to every remember a day of playing rugby in Surrey that the weather was nice and the Surrey sidelines weren’t completely obnoxious all day long. After several weeks of practice numbers hovering around 28-32 players it was almost a shock to see about 48 red RRFC jerseys for an away game. Granted several were juniors playing in the 3rd division but in watching the game they definitely left their mark on the game. Salvador, the scrumhalf, was consistent in his passing and he tackled many rambling forwards. Geoff Girling, at second row, won a lot of line out ball and was all around the field in loose play. The game was close for almost the whole game. I think in the end a little bit more size and some decisions at critical areas during the game saw Surrey come out on top. Other than that the game was entertaining and not your typical mistake filled and slow 3rd division game.
The 2nd XV being last year’s provincial champs knew that Surrey was going to come out gunning for us. The defense of that title in our opener was going to be tough considering that we had two rookie front rowers play, a brand new 2nd rower, a new #10, a new #8 and a full back who had played 3/4’s of the 3rd division game. The game did not begin well for Richmond. Unclear defensive patterns, numerous penalties, and missed tackles kept Richmond penned in their own end. By the half time whistle we found ourselves down 19-5. The five coming from a chip and chase by #10 Graham Martin-Muir.
The second-half was redemption for the Richmond 2nd XV. It started off with a good series of rucks by both backs and forwards. It was eventually capped off by a try by recently converted centre John Findlay, who was playing his first game at #8. Josh Polka and Martin Muir capped off the scoring to bring the final score to a 25-25 tie.
The first division was somewhat reminiscent of the 2nd division game in that there were many mistakes made by both sides. Lack of depth and some bad decision making, at points, made it frustrating to watch. The highlight of the day however was when a Surrey counterattack shredded the Richmond defense, but the Surrey #10 jogging under the posts to put the ball down, dropped it before placing it. There was some exciting play however, Aaron Avram chipped and chased from the opposition 22 and outpaced the defense to touch it down. Richmond’s second try came off of a nice attack in the 22, a break through a half gap by Alex Brown and a quick off load to flanker Mike Marquardt for the try. That tied the game at 12-12. The second half saw only one score, fortunately it was on an inside crash from Mark Gaudrault, the outside centre at our 40-meter line. He shed several tacklers on his 60-yard run to cap off the scoring and give Richmond the 19-12 win.
Next weeks Games
Home Opener September 19th, 2009
Juniors vs Scribes @ 11:30 Numbers permitting
2nds vs Scribes @ 1:00
1sts vs Scribes @ 2:30
Clear the schedule for Old Boys Day
October 3rd at home vs the Brit-Lions
