Wandsworth Sport

Richmond play down hopes of promotion

By Andrew Bloss

2:00pm Thursday 2nd September 2010

Richmond's director of Rugby Steve Hill has refused to talk up his side’s chances of promotion in his first season at the helm, as they kick off their National Two South campaign this Saturday.

Hill takes his side to Southend for their first fixture of the season after an encouraging 33-27 pre season win against National One Blackheath a fortnight ago.

Richmond finished 8th last year in the National Division Two South and Hill has set a minimum target of bettering that this time around.

And, while the former Oxford University rugby chief has been pleased with preparations so far, he stressed that the real hard work starts at the weekend.

“We have put a strong squad together and I was pleased with our two warm up games. League matches are very different though and Southend is a very tough start,” he said.

“They don't tend to lose many matches at home.

“The key things is we have to concentrate on what we do well, but like most league rugby it's important we dominate the first phase.”

He added: “We certainly want to finish higher than we did last year. This is my first season in charge, so I'm still learning about this league.

“Promotion isn't a target we have set at the moment. It is quite easy in pre-season to say 'lets get promoted'.

“I think what is much more realistic is to assess where we are at Christmas and then we will have a good idea of what we should aim for, but we all want to finish as high as possible.”

Richmond’s next three games: Sept 4 Southend (a), 11 Ealing (a), 18 Taunton (h).

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