Hill guards against Richmond complacency (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Hill guards against Richmond complacency

12:09pm Friday 28th October 2011 in Richmond RFC By Tom Barnes

Director of rugby Steve Hill has warned his high-flying Richmond side against complacency after coming through a bruising contest against strugglers Westcombe Park, writes Tom Barnes.

Richmond made the trip to Park full of confidence following the demolition of Redruth last weekend but were made to fight in a narrow 25-31 victory.

And Hill knows his side will have to be at their best when they face Shelford at the Athletic Ground on Saturday.

He said: “Westcombe Park showed a lot of desire and were extremely physical in the first half.

“I was really pleased with the way we fought back into this game.

“Losing two first choice backs in the first 50 minutes certainly did not help and I was pleased with how we coped with the disruption.

“But this is no time for over confidence and we will need to raise our game considerably for next week’s visit from Shelford.”

Despite the scoreline, Richmond never really looked in danger of losing their unbeaten record as tries from Matt Keville, Nick Moore and Tom Chesters helped them into 18-21 half time lead.

Richmond lost the strong running Moore to a nasty looking ankle injury just after the break, but continued to look dominant with the excellent Will Browne proving difficult to contain.

The contest was over midway through the second half when the Richmond scrum shunted the Combe pack over the whitewash allowing Davies to add a fifth try to secure the spoils.