Sport

Successive wins the aim for Richmond Rugby as they host Coventry at Athletic Ground

Richmond Rugby go looking for back-to-back league wins for the first time since March when they host Coventry on Saturday.

Following defeats to Yorkshire Carnegie, Doncaster and Cornish Pirates, Richmond dusted themselves off with a 38-12 victory over Hartpury last weekend.

That win moved them up to ninth in the table and only two points behind Coventry as they look to end their inconsistent form.

Richmond boss Steve Hill said: “Our back-line last weekend really fizzed.

“There were a couple of fantastic tries, really good hands and really slick moves which broke down the Hartpury defence.

“It was by some way our best performance so far this season.

“Our scrum did really well. The pleasing thing last weekend was we created good chances, like we did in previous games, but we had a little more patience and accuracy.”

Meanwhile, Coventry will be looking to bounce back from consecutive defeats, though they ran London Irish close last weekend.

“They’ve got a very physical team, they’ve spent a lot of money coming into the Championship,” said Hill.

“It will be a tough game. All of your home games in this league are very important.

“I think particularly teams that are in the bottom half of the table need those wins at home to make sure they’re not sitting in the bottom two places.”

With games coming up against high-flyers Ealing and Nottingham, Richmond need to win to maintain a buffer between themselves and the foot of the table.

Hill said: “It’s a very important game, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure we come away with the win, but we know it’s going to be a very difficult afternoon.

“Moving forward, we have to pick up bonus points.

“If you look at the league table now, two or three bonus points and that changes your league position by two or three places.

“That’s the thing we’ve got to learn from the first few games of the season.”

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