Richmond were always going to be stiff competition for us on Saturday, but the difference between the two sides was not as significant as the final score suggests. Richmond were very well drilled and made few mistakes and yet we remained competitive until the last 10 minutes of the game. 

Shelford started brightly and went into the lead thanks to a well struck penalty from Chris Glynn. However, after 10 minutes of concerted pressure in the Richmond half, we were guilty of taking our foot off the pedal and allowing the visitors into the game through a series of penalties and errors. Discipline in terms of not trying to referee the game ourselves is improving all the time, however we are still guilty of giving away penalties through not listening to and reacting to the referee’s calls. We give away far too many penalties from handling in the ruck, not staying on our feet when competing for or securing the ball and straying offside in our defensive alignment. Penalties result in easy possession, territory and ultimately points for our opponents and against strong sides like Richmond, we will be severely punished. We were on Saturday.

Three yellow cards were brandished for Shelford foul play and unfortunately two were awarded to the same player, forcing Aki Lea to spend the last 20 minutes of the game as a spectator. 40 minutes playing with 14 men will not facilitate a competitive match against strong opposition and this ultimately determined the result on Saturday.

That said, we stuck to our task admirably and showed great spirit to play until the final whistle. Lesser sides would have fallen much harder and we can take heart from knowing that. We scored two well-worked tries through the forwards, with Kramer and Scotty going over the whitewash. What we need now is a run of wins to consolidate our place in the top half of the table. If we play to our potential and learn from our mistakes, I see no reason why we shouldn’t begin a sequence of impressive performances and start an upwards push in London One.

Skips.