Richmond 41 Shelford 14

On a bright autumn day with perfect conditions for running rugby, Shelford made the trip to south west London knowing they faced a huge challenge. Richmond were sitting at the top of the table, unbeaten after 9 games, with a try bonus point in each.

The hosts started strongly and despite missing a penalty kick in the first minute, always looked dangerous on the attack. Winger Will Brown opened the scoring after 8 minutes. Shelford were struggling to gain possession and after a period of sustained pressure, the home team extended their lead with a try for no 8 Harry Edwards. Five minutes later, captain Tom George scored out wide.  Towards the end of the half, Shelford finally got themselves on the score sheet as Redmond Newberry crashed over the line with Harry Owens adding the extras, giving a half time score of 15 7.

The hosts wasted no time in securing the try bonus point as winger Jon Wehbe scored under the posts, converted by Cousins. Shelford's response was positive and once richmond skipper George was sent to the sin bin they worked hard to make the extra man count and following successive infringements from the Richmond pack were rewarded with a penalty try bringing the score to 22 14. However, the visitors were unable to close the gap as first Edwards and then Platt scored for Richmond.

Shelford never gave up but were unable to add to their score and the league leaders scored their 7th try deep into injury time, with Davies breaking through and touching down under the posts.