Richmond 26 Portsmouth 11

Finally free from the distractions of the World Cup, Richmond entertained Portsmouth in front of a crowd of more than 700, the numbers bolstered by the players' reunion lunch.

The day was also notable for the achievement of putting out four other senior sides on adjoining pitches with a sixth senior men's side, the U21s, playing the next day.

Since the new year of 2007 Portsmouth's record is impressive so a testing game was assured. Richmond made it more testing by going to sleep in the first two minutes.

Perhaps distracted by the minute's silence for four distinguished club servants, Richmond lost concentration in defence and two missed tackles left Portsmouth clear to score a try with embarrassing ease.

This was at total odds with the defence in previous games this year.

However, Richmond now settled down and a well contested first half ensued.

Richmond slowly worked their way into the game and Matt Hart added a penalty from pressure created by a well placed box kick from scrum half Kenny Bingham.

And after 15 minutes Hart added a second penalty when Frankie Van Schalkwyk, always a danger, was body checked in desperate Portsmouth defence.

But the game was far from won at this stage and Portsmouth deserved to regain the lead with two more penalties from scrum half Sid Claffey. Their back row and centres were constantly breaking the gain line.

After half an hour Owen Gregory replaced Brian McNamara and Richmond started to apply more regular pressure, though there were too many unnecessary mistakes.

Finally, the forwards established a rolling maul which made some progress and sucked in their back row.

Richmond then worked an excellent set move with Luke Cousins passing deep to Joe Ajuwa coming into the line from the blind side.

Ajuwa fed a lovely fast flat ball to Matt Hart, and Frankie Van Schalkwyk was able to run in at the corner from 15 yards.

After a very patchy first half for Richmond, the try provided encouragement that the team were capable of better things in the second half.

The second half tactics soon became clear as the ball was constantly pushed into the Portsmouth 22 by Cousins and Hart and there was an extra pace to Richmond's movement of the ball.

With Portsmouth now under more and more pressure a score seemed inevitable and duly followed a line out, won by the towering Henry Head who took the honours as the forwards rumbled over the line to give Richmond a 16-11 lead.

With Tristan Wesley replacing Andre De Villiers, the game now opened up significantly and Richmond had plenty of chances when they were not catching the referee's attention and conceding a surprising number of penalties.

Both Tim Cook and the rampaging Joe Ajuwa (adjudged man of the match for both his attack and defence) made good breaks but final passes, which were perhaps not necessary, went well astray. Portsmouth were still dangerous on the break and good tackles from Bingham and Hart were crucial.

After half an hour Richmond scored their third and crucial try, which was also the best moment of the match.

Constantly under pressure in their own 22, the valiant Portsmouth defence was beginning to look tired and Richmond's strong fitness again looked a major factor.

Given good ball by the forwards but with no obvious space, the excellent Cousins feinted to pass and shimmied through the defence to touch down under the posts for a try converted by Matt Hart.

In the last minutes Van Schalkwyk, certainly a contender for man of the match, was almost through but was held out with a high tackle and the final score for Richmond was a hard fought 26-11 win.

Next week Richmond travel to third placed Hertford for another tough challenge, kick off 2.30pm.

Tries: Van Schalkwyk, Head, Cousins.Conversions: Hart. Penalties: Hart 3Richmond: M Hart, J Ajuwa, T Cook, A Maclennan, F Van Schalkwyk, L Cousins, K Bingham, B McNamara(O Gregory) , D Burr(E Rosa), T Nutall , C O'Keefe, H Head, A De Villiers(T Wesley), T George, J Bucknall.