This weekend all three Richmond teams played away. With the Heroes going to Bayside and the 1st and 2nd at Langley.

In the third division the Heroes played a tough Bayside team, losing a tough match. Score unknown at this time.

The weather certainly hasn’t been good for rugby this year so far except for this day, when the sun came out and the wind died down at John Oliver park in Delta and in Surrey at the Bell Centre field for out 3rd division.

3rd division score was 22-7 for Richmond over Chilliwack. Try scorers were Pat Lanigan,
Doug Embury, and John Stein, conversions were kicked by Issac McKittrick. The 2nd division team had a plethora of youth with a sprinkling of age and experience. From the outset, newly transformed #8, John Findlay took control of the game with long distance runs resulting in a try for him and a support try for Brendan Bains. The onslaught continued as Findlay notched another try while breaking through the Brit-Lions defense. Quick ball movement and Richmond’s ability to keep the ball off the deck in contact led to it’s fourth try in 20 minutes as Shawn Murray, from his wing position was able to outpace the defenders and score. Richmond was up 22-0. Then disaster struck, #10 Jay Lee separated his shoulder in a tackle. The ensuing reorganization caused havoc as players were moved about to realign the backline. That along with the scoring onslaught of the first 20 minutes allowed some defensive and offensive complacency. Like last years loss to the Brits, Richmond let them back into the match. Scoring 26 unanswered points the Brits left the Richmond squad stunned and fearing a week of tackling practice.

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.