Richmond director of rugby Steve Hill reckons his men have a mountain to climb to cap the club’s 150th anniversary with promotion.

Hill’s side start 2011 third in National Division Two South having risen from the depths of near extinction and demotion to Herts & Middlesex One in 2000.

The Athletic Ground outfit started the campaign with three straight defeats, but have won their last 11 games to be within touching distance of table-topping Ealing.

Cancellations mean Richmond still have 16 games to play - including back-to-back fixtures with the league leaders and second-placed Jersey in February.

But Hill, who watched Richmond Students take on their London Scottish counterparts to kick-off the anniversary celebrations on Sunday, says his men are up for the challenge.

“Losing our first three games means we have given ourselves a tough mountain to climb. Ealing have to lose games as have Jersey,” he said.

“Because of the bad weather we play those two on consecutive weekends, so two wins for us in those games would change the landscape of the league significantly.

“If we are to be promoted and make the club’s 150th year one to remember, every game for us is a must win game.

“We have a tough start to the year and it is going to be a huge test of our squad’s strength in depth.

“We’ve had our slip ups and we’ve now got to approach every match to win and get all the bonus points we can.”

Richmond will not have a free weekend until the end of the season having had to squeeze postponed games with Ealing and Henley into the 2011 schedule.

And Hill reckons it is time the game’s powers that be took another look at the league structure to reduce the number of matches teams like his have to play.

“If we lose any more weekends then the season could potentially go on until the second May Bank Holiday - nobody wants that,” he added.

“I know people say this is unprecedented but the fact is we play too many games anyway. The season is just getting longer and longer.

“With pre-season starting in June we could be talking about training and playing nearly 11 months a year.

“The RFU talk about keeping players in the game and that is not the way to do it.”

But with the recent break, at least Hill’s men have returned refreshed to face a much-changed Taunton outfit next weekend.

“They have strengthened significantly since we last played them and lost by a point,” he said.

“We should have won that game and the boys are excited to have an opportunity to right wrongs of that day.”

Richmond’s next three games: Jan 8 Taunton (a), 15 Newbury (a), 22 Clifton (h).