Richmond had a breathless start to the first game of 2024 after travelling to Birmingham Moseley in a re-arranged fixture. Leading into Saturday, both sides were level-pegged on 38 points, so the encounter had always promised to be a game of inches.

Richmond came out of the gates a bit too enthusiastically, as the first tackle of the game was called for being high. Moseley pounced on the early opportunity as Ollie Allsopp sliced through untouched before finally being chopped down by Alex O’Meara. However, this was not enough as he found his centre partner, Elliot Creed, with a slick offload for him to dive over the line, opening up the scoring within 2 minutes.

This was not the ideal start to the new year that Richmond had hoped for; they needed to answer back quickly. Responding to the setback, Richmond's pack showcased their dominance in the first scrum, winning the penalty and allowing Alex Burrage to put them within striking distance from the line-out. Richmond attacked with real venom, charging closer and closer to the opposing line. A free play was granted for the Moseley hooker being offside. Burrage wasted no time, guiding the ball into the corner for Chidera Obonna to score his first try for Richmond.

Birmingham controlled possession in the middle of the park, with no luck in getting through a resilient Richmond defence. The hard work paid off as the Moseley hooker took his eye off the ball, turning his focus to the fast-approaching Henry Cheeseman. The ball spilled between his legs, allowing Obonna to put in a well-weighted volley that bounced up perfectly for Cheeseman. He still had 40 metres to run, but he had the legs to reach the try line, giving Burrage a slightly easier conversion to extend the lead.

For the next 20 minutes, Richmond controlled the game, keeping the hosts pinned down in their final third. Another Richmond try seemed inevitable after continual pressure. The pack won a vital scrum penalty 35m out, and Burrage kicked into the corner. Could this be the try they were searching for? Post found Breeze at the back of the line-out, and the pack got to work, inching closer and closer before the back-line added their weight. The maul crashed over the line, and at first glance, it looked to be held up. Jones manoeuvred his body to free the ball but lost control just before the grounding.

Momentum shifted after a monstrous kick from Creed, forcing Will Kaye to chase back and dot it down for a goal-line drop-out. Some ill-discipline followed, with Breeze tackling their scrum-half high with three minutes to play of a tight first half. Moseley wasted no time in capitalizing. The big Brummie pack sucked in the Richmond defence, allowing Creed to dive over untouched.

Moseley held the lead with only a minute left on the clock. Possession was with Richmond for the last play, but a challenging pass was not received, allowing Moseley to gather the ball and conclude the half in the lead, 14-12.

David Massey made his return to Richmond for the first time since mid-September, replacing Harry Breeze. Sadly, the start of the second half mimicked the start of the game. Two charged-down exits put Richmond under immense pressure. The shaky start took its toll; Birmingham went over from a maul, scoring within 3 minutes of the half. The ensuing conversion was unsuccessful, keeping Richmond within one score.
Richmond pulled themselves together, and Billesley Common seemed to settle down for the following 10 minutes. Rob Powell looked to the bench to add some fresh legs. Hamish Graham, Ted Landray, Matt Marsh, and making his Richmond debut, Gerin Lloyd, all took the field around the 55-minute mark. You could see a spark in Richmond’s play. Marsh unleashed Massey with a delayed pop, bursting through two defenders before offloading to Lloyd for his first touch. And what an incredible impact he made, handing off one and bouncing another; his leg drive took him over the try-line in what looked like a stunning try. But a valiant effort from the Moseley defence held the ball up.

Richmond did not take their foot off the gas. Powerful carries from Obonna and Cheeseman put the Londoners within striking distance. Archie Maggs stuck the ball up his jumper just inches away, allowing Luke Spring to boulder himself over the line to open up Richmond’s scoring in the second half. Landray added the two points to level the scores at 19-19.

The volume around the ground exploded as we entered the last 10 minutes of this enthralling match. A mistake from Birmingham’s box kick granted Richmond great attacking position. Moseley shut down Richmond’s attack well, forcing Landray to punt the ball high into the floodlit sky. A committed chase made the full-back knock the ball on for a Richmond scrum inside their final third. The referee, Tim Allatt, took this opportunity to speak to both captains as the players' temperatures had risen.

Landray utilized his high boot once again. This time, the full-back Sam Pointon made no mistake. At full tilt, he broke through the defense using the gap created by Birmingham’s defender Dan Brough. A penalty was called for the infringement, and Brough made Richmond’s life easier as he attempted to dispute the decision, resulting in an extra 10m, putting Landray within kicking distance. Ted made no mistake and fired the ball between the posts, putting Richmond into the lead, 19-22.

Frustratingly, Richmond’s lead lasted for a grand total of a minute. Freddie Painter sniped from the base of the ruck before offloading to Creed. Landray rushed over to make the important cover tackle. But it wasn’t enough; they flung the ball wide to Isaac McNuulty, and he used his quick footwork to go over next to the sticks for an easy conversion. Hamish Graham had other ideas; the 6’7 winger raced up and charged down the conversion.

With only 5 minutes left on the clock, Richmond needed a score and fast. Massey carried over the Moseley defender, putting him on the wrong side of the ruck as Allatt’s arm went out for a Richmond advantage. Landray made full use of the free play, putting in a chip into the gap behind the defensive line; O’Meara rushed through and was blessed with the perfect bounce. The ball bounced past the last defender for O’Meara to pick up and go over under the sticks for an easy conversion.

Birmingham restarted high, allowing the red and black wall to force a knock-on. The crowd erupted. Moseley continuously knocked on the door; they then got rewarded with a penalty at the breakdown with only 90 seconds on the clock. Moseley’s maul overcame Richmond’s pack earlier in the second half and did so again. They peeled round the back of the maul, trundling to the line before crashing down. Allatt showed no hesitation in calling a penalty try and yellow carding prop Luke Spring.

Richmond had to regather the restart to have any chance of snatching the win and Landray put in a short kick for Mark Bright to take. However, Richmond’s opportunity was short-lived, a knock-on handed Moseley the ball, and they made no mistake in finding touch, sealing a hard-fought victory for the home team and leaving Richmond with a sense of disbelief as to how they let the game slip away.

Tries: Obonna, Cheeseman, Spring, O’Meara
Conversions: Burrage, Landray (2)
Penalties: Landray

Team: A. O’Meara, C. Obonna, H. Cheeseman, T. Hitchcock, W. Kaye, A. Burrage, L. Jones, L. Spring, A. Post, A. Maggs, J. Monson, M. Murphy, M. Wakeling, H. Breeze, M. Bright
Subs: G. Lloyd, D. Massey, M. Marsh, T. Landray, H. Graham