Match Report for
May 1 2010
Despite entering the playoffs through a tie-breaker for six place overall, Richmond’s 2nd XV numbers at practice boded well for it’s first round matchup against the 3rd place Langley squad. The second half of the season for Richmond was stellar (7-4) compared to the first half (3-3-3-1 default) of the year and were looking for it’s third win against Langley in the 2009-10 season.
The team was told to show up at 11:30 for the 1:00 game to prepare. A full squad was there, surprisingly at about 12:00. I felt good about the game when I looked over after we had finished our
40 minute warm-up, mistakes and all, and saw Langley players still showing up for the game.
Despite playing poorly in the first 10 minutes of the game, Richmond was able to stave off the Langley squad. It was apparent form looking at the two sides, Richmond was the younger fitter squad. Early jitters saw Langley catch Richmond sleeping defensively off of an errant kick. A nice offload in contact near the Richmond goal line saw the first try of the game. Langley 5 Richmond 0.
Richmond’s game plan quickly changed. The Richmond pack was an excellent mixture of veterans and youth and were dominating the Langley forwards. Much of the rest of the game involved the forwards taking the ball forward on first and second phases and then the ball moving out wide.