By Xander Chevallier:

An early Howard Packman brace and subsequent scores from Guido Volpi, Will Holling, Jack Davies and Jerry Sexton secured the win for the visitors. Max Trimble and Callum Watson both scored sublime tries for Richmond but their ill-discipline throughout made it difficult for them to have a foot hold in the game.

After a disappointing loss at Goldington Road last weekend, Richmond came out of the blocks quickly in search of an early score. They made inroads but their momentum continued to be stifled by the number of penalties they were conceding.

One of these penalties turned out to be the platform for Doncaster’s first score as they turned down an easy penalty in favour of going to the corner. A strong rolling maul put the Knights before Packman went over in the corner.

Oli Evans was soon sent to the bin for a deliberate knock on and with the man advantage, Packman crossed again, scoring an almost identical try to his first.

Richmond’s best attack of the half came on the half hour mark, but despite being camped inside the Doncaster 22, they couldn’t find that clinical moment and eventually the visitors cleared their lines.

With half-time beckoning, Doncaster smelt one more try. A purposeful rolling maul was first pulled down by Jake Parker, earning himself a place in the sin-bin, and on the second time of asking Doncaster made no mistake and Volpi crashed over with Olver adding the extras, 0-19 to the visitors at half-time.

With the added man at the start of the second half, Doncaster soon gained the bonus point try as Holling crossed on the back of a maul and Olver superbly added the extras from the touchline.

As Parker returned to the pitch, Richmond would have hoped that they would have kept 15 men on the field for the rest of the match, but this hope was short-lived. Deep inside their own half, Allcock was sent to the bin due to the accumulation of Richmond penalties and immediately after Dan Kelly was adjudged to have entered the maul illegally. Despite being down to 13, Richmond showed their heart and refused to have their line breached on this occasion.

Still down on numbers and down on the scoreboard, Richmond refused to give up. Watson released Trimble down the left and after going through the phases, the winger found himself in space on the right and rounded his man to score in the corner. Rob Kirby added the extras on his return to injury.

Another yellow card for Richmond was handed to Jimmy Litchfield for repeated scrum penalties before Davies crashed over from close after repeated Doncaster pressure.

The other Richmond score came eight minutes from time as Doncaster failed to control the ball at the base of the scrum. The ball spat out to Kirby who offloaded to Callum Watson and the scrumhalf sprinted in from 60m out.

With the clock in the red, Doncaster went in search of their sixth try and eventually Sexton cantered over making the full-time score 12-40 to the hosts.

The Richmond Player of the Match, voted for by the coaches and sponsored by Jen Gadsby Peet was awarded to exciting scrum-half Callum Watson.

FINAL SCORE: RICHMOND 12 - DONCASTER 40

Richmond 12
Tries: Max Trimble (64th min), Callum Watson (72nd min)
Conversions: Rob Kirby (64th min)

Doncaster 40

The full in-depth match report from Tim Forrester to follow…

Image courtesy of Dante K Photography: www.dantekphotography.com