Westcombe Park 2's 33-36 Richmond Saxons

From the kick off "Combe" was immediately on the back foot as a attempted tap back by Jamie Taylor forced the home side back in the 22, under all sorts of pressure only good defence from James Caitlin holding the ball up preventing a try, pressure again from Richmond with there strong pack players this time requiring the efforts of Dave grace and Richard halstead to hold the ball up over the try line, from the resulting Richmond scrum the westcombe pack struggled and was driven back for the Richmond 8 to touch down from the base of the scrum.

Combe hit back immediately after a good cross field kick by joe Simpson for winger Kieran Leeper to chase, the bounce just escaping him but play was brought back for a earlier infringement, Simpson kicks the 3 for Combes first points of the afternoon 3-5.

It was pretty much end to end stuff all game, a well worked backs move from Richmond see the Richmond outside centre in for a good try, the 10 converted to make the score 3-12.

Westcombe although not having the upper hand in the scrums was doing well around the park, good hands from Ryan Hackett and Pat Moore see the lively Kieran Leeper with ball in hand, a good break by the winger he had Gideon Roux in support who drew in the full back and popped the ball back to Kieran for Combes first try of the afternoon, joe Simpson adds the extras 10-12, a couple of Simpson penalties gave Combe a 16-12 lead.

Richmond hit back immediately and good work from there pack see there 6 go over for the try, 10 converts Richmond lead 16-19, from the restart number 8 Ryan Hackett tackled the player in the air, the referee playing advantage see the Richmond 12 get the ball and ship it down the line in the mean time hacketts willingness/stupidity he also late tackles the 12, credit to your work rate though Ryan!.

Half time see the score line of 16-19

Westcombe began the second half brightly a trademark sniping break from joe Simpson left the defence for dead sadly the support players was slow to respond and a good scoring chance was gone, on 42 minutes replacement scrum half joe Wilkes made a immediate impact as his clever little chip to the corner see Ryan Hackett go over for the try conversion wide out missed 21-19. Richmond hit back again after 46 minutes with a try to retake the lead 21-24.

The game evenly in the balance but Richmond the stronger upfront caused westcombe trouble, in the 60th minute the pressure told and the the Richmond 7 powered his way over for the try, conversion successful 21-31.

On 70 minutes a cross field from joe Simpson to Bryan young was unlucky not to end with the winger scoring, joe Wilkes bringing good tempo to the game with tap penalties snipped and got his arms free in the tackle to pass the ball to replacement jack Robertson to go over in the corner, Simpson nails the touch line conversion 28-31, wescombe starting to assert themselves in the hunt for a winning score, again Wilkes at the thick of things as the penalty was given a quick tap he see's big 2nd row Jamie Taylor on the other wing a good cross field kick straight in into Taylor's hands completely catches the defence off guard as he cuts in and goes over for the try, conversion missed 33-31 with only minutes to play, sadly Combe couldn't hold onto the lead as Richmond responded straight away with the winning try full time 33-36.

Special mentions to joe Simpson who surely must be close to getting a first team chance, Gideon roux for a physical first half display at 9 and Kieran Leeper staking his claim for his first team spot back.