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Richmond have done it. The only fully amateur club in England’s second professional division – the Greene King IPA Championship – have won their first game of the season, against London Scottish on Friday evening. Playing a key role in the dramatic 17-16 victory was US Eagles midfielder Ronnie McLean. While technically the away side, Richmond and Scottish have the unique distinction of sharing the same home turf – the Athletic Ground – which happens to be located in Richmond, a suburb of Greater London.
Also in action on Friday but slightly less successful was Pumas prop Ignacio Sáenz Lancuba, who started at loosehead for Ealing Trailfinders in their 17-13 defeat to Nottingham at Lady Bay. Ealing have had a good start to the season with five wins out of nine and still sit third on the table, firmly in the playoff hunt despite trailing second-place Yorkshire Carnegie by 11 league points.
League-leaders London Irish, thus far a perfect eight wins from eight, will not have either of their Canadians in action this weekend with Ciaran Hearn on international duty and Jebb Sinclair still on the shelf. The Exiles will travel to Cornwall’s Mennaye Field where the Pirates await with Nicolás de Battista set to feature at inside centre on Saturday. Pirates will also be missing a pair of Canucks with Brett Beukeboom and Matt Evans set to face Romania in Bucharest.
The other Exiles – London Welsh – will host Bedford Blues at Old Deer Park on Saturday. They will be very disappointed to have lost Aaron Carpenter until the new year with a broken arm, just when the Canadian skipper had been winning a place in the lineup with increasing frequency. Montreal-born flanker Justin Blanchet will start for the Blues, yet to find favour with Canadian selectors but a regular on the side of the Bedford scrum.
