Match Report - Dings 13 Richmond 18

They took the points thanks to a flawless kicking display from stand off Thomas Platt who landed six kicks including two monsters from his own half. Leading 10-9 at halftime Dings matched the leaders all the way and with a little more discipline at the breakdown and a little luck, that has deserted them all season, could have won the match but had to settle for a well earned bonus point.
 
Dings took the lead in the first minute of the match, a turnover on halfway from hooker Dave Wheeler saw the ball moved swiftly along the line for ruck on the twenty two scrum half Waylon Gasson broke blind in behind the Richmond defence to feed full back James Oakley for the try, stand off Steve Plummer converted for 7-0 to Dings.
 
With Dings dominating the opening stages and the visitors visibly rattled Dings came very close to a second try on ten minutes with a line out steel by Ollie Hodge deep in the visitors twenty two setting up a series of drives culminating in being held up over the try line.
 
Richmond opened their scoring with the first of Platt’s six penalties on thirteen minutes and came near to a try two minutes later when flanker Dave Abbott broke blind from a ruck on the twenty two and sprinted clear but a superb effort from Gasson bundled him into touch a metre from the line. From the lineout the visitors set up a period of pressure on the Dings line to earn a penalty, which Platt converted.  The second quarter was end to end with both defences at full stretch and with Platt and Plummer landing penalties the half closed at 10-9 to Dings.
 
The second half was fiercely contested with neither side giving an inch but the visitors got in front for the first time on fifty one minutes with the first of Platt’s monster penalties from five metres inside his own half closely followed by and identical shot two minutes later for 10-15 to Richmond.
 
With both defences giving nothing away try chances were few, Platt added his sixth penalty on sixty-five minutes to increase the visitors lead to 10-18. After narrowly missing with a long penalty kick Dings stand off Steve Plummer landed his second penalty of the game two minutes from time to secure a well-deserved bonus point for Dings.

Rich Grant

Match program