Richmond Women fell to their fourth defeat of the season, suffering a 26-5 loss to the DMP Sharks.

On a cold evening at the Athletic Ground in front of a strong Richmond crowd, the home side failed to spark against a rampant DMP outfit who were determined to edge ahead of their opponents and secure their second win of the season.

The visitors opened the scoring in the 27th minute through Lois Brown before Richmond hit back quickly three minutes later with Louise Burgess on the end of a sensational piece of attacking play. The try was unconverted and DMP held a 7-5 lead.

From there it was all DMP with the visitors crossing for three furthers tries through Elizabeth Blacklock, Lisa Thomson and Evie Tonkin, to claim an impressive away victory.

For Richmond, it was a frustrating evening, with the home side unable to find any consistency or confidence in their game. Positives include the debut of new recruit Hannah Duffy and the return of Laura Kapo who made her 288th appearance for the club.

Fly-half Vicki Jackson said: “DMP were fantastic, they were physical, well organised and deserved their victory. For us, we are extremely disappointed. It feels like we have taken two steps forward and three steps back in a number of areas of our game. We will remain positive, there’s still a really good feeling amongst the squad. We will go back to training, work hard and look to take another a positive step forward next week.”

Richmond’s next Tyrrells Premier 15s fixture is away against Bristol Bears Women next Saturday 26th October (KO 12pm).

Richmond Women 5 defeated by DMP Sharks 26