Richmond Prems 1st had a good week of training where coaches Henry Solomona and Jesse Bourke-Jackson were fortunate with the depth at training (up to 40 players). Going in to round 8 of the Sharman Cup the Premier 1st team selected featured players making their 2013 debut for the including prop forward Tere Strickland, outside back Bam Samuela and utility forward Tomasi Moala each playing their first game. Others returning from the rotation policy includes forward utilities Leonale Bourke, Paul McCauslin and Kennedy. 

Playing at Ranui Domain against the Waitemata Sea Gulls the team started with a hiss and a roar with multiple line and tackle breaks from our tireless forward pack. From the front captain Logan Wright lead the team with strong hit ups and off loads. His combination with back rower Leonale Bourke and brother Lance Wright in half back allowed Richmond to shoot to a 32-0 half time lead. This scored could have been higher had our kicker brought his kicking boots -landing 2 from 7.

A slow opening stanza to the second half meant the Prems 1st were slow to get out of the stumbling blocks. This however did not deter the defensive effort from back rowers Josh Tui, Siti Tautiga and hooker Josh Mana who performed with intensity.

The left side ran well with half back Robbie Vai'i running the show and putting his outside backs in open space. A pin point corner kick for winger Arnold was a game highlight and thoroughly enjoyed by all. The Full time score was 52-0 which showed the Prems 1st only scored 20 points in the 2nd half. Coach Henry was happy with the result and stated "there is still a lot of work to do before the start of the second round". Last game of the round is this week; "we would love your away support as we take on the New Lynn stags" says the affamable Solomona. Player of the Day went to a young man who also scored on debut, Tere Strickland.

The Good: Everyones putting their hand up to make our 25 man squad
The Bad: Need to dominate the whole 80 minutes.
The Ugly: Logan Wright going over in the corner for a try but runs around the post to make it easier for our kicker, but stands on the dead ball line (good one captain). 

The Richmond Prems 1st played the Manurewa Marlins at Grey Lynn Park in a confrontational battle. After last weekend's narrow 16-10 loss to the East Coast Bays in atrocious weather we as a team needed to lift our game.

The Prems 1st team started well scoring two converted tries with good quick the ball and back up in support play. With injury (groin strain) to centre Ben Collins in the first half the Prems 1st were down to three prop forwards on the bench with back rower Andrew Kake filling in the outside backs. In a grind type match Manurewa scored two tries of their own in the closing first half stanza to take the game 12-10 to Richmond.

With a stern talking to by coach Henry Solomona at half time the forwards went back to basics and set a good platform for the halves who were creative with free flowing plays. With Rob Vai'i on debut and half back Harry Vete kicking in to space the team began to chime as one. The outside backs completed what the forward pack had begun with tries to second rower Andrew Kake, full back Francis Gallagher and Harry Vete. Harry had a superb day with the boot converting all the second half tries to take the final score to 38-20. A superb effort from the Prems 1st team especially from our Player of the Day, Zac Tui in hooker

The Good: Big ups to Rob Vai'i (pictured above) who played a dominating passing game at standoff.
The Bad: Rob playing a complete game but also spending 10 minutes in the sin bin for a professional foul
The Ugly:  Professional foul came to be because Rob was standing behind the Manurewa half back and waited until he got the ball before he spot tackled him in the back, Good one mate! Don't forget your penalty.

Good win today for the Richmond Prems 1st with a convincing 56-6 win over the Te Atatu Roosters. A great way to bounce back after last weekend's disappointing home game loss against Otara Scorpions.

There were a few injury concerns however the effort and commitment at training has improved. Missing from this weekend's line up include damaging prop forward Logan Wright, wing sensation Lee Robson, tireless backrowers Nale Bourke and Bronson Harden. Stepping up and with increased game time were powerful prop forward Fia and hardworking Kennedy who both played long minutes. Tana Fili and Francis 'Dugan' Gallagher played exceptionally well in the backs with full back Savi Hafoka memorizing the opposition from the back of the Richmond pack.

"At one point the boys defended 5 sets in row with a man in the sin-bin. The Prems 1st boys were ruthless on attack and showed great commitment to defense", says assistant coach Jess Bourke. There is still a lot to work on but the coaching team will no doubt work on this at training. With the continued effort it was an awesome way to bounce back for all members involved with the team. Next week the boys play Eats Coast Bays Barracudas and would like your on-going support. All day Doggies!

The Richmond Premier 1st played Otara Scorpions on Saturday 20th April 2013. Otara were the Sharman Cup Premier 1st defending champions and as expected they would come with a strong line up based on there early season results.

The Premier 1st had two fairly easy games in recent weeks win huge wins with the most recent being a 78-0 drubbing of the Manukau Magpies. Coaches Henry Solomona and Jess Bourke were expecting a tough tussle. With a few injuries the coaching team were wanting a strong side to take Otara's forward pack on with former Richmond Rovers junior Lance Wright on debut in the hooker role. The team was lead strongly by prop forward Logan Wright, captain Akuso and Steve Watkins in the forward pack. The teams dominance proved strong in the opening 40 minutes however the lack of execution let the team down and effectively gave the visiting team enough space for a fight back. The Premier 1st team went in to the half time break leading 10-6.

As expected Otara came out with a hiss and a roar and to the coaches disappointment the team strayed away from the game plan providing Otara ample opportunities to sneak back into the game. Ball security and forced passes frustrated the Premier 1st boys and the determined Otara team scored with 15 minutes gone in the second half. The weather provided some difficulty with heavy rain and flash lightning affecting both teams for a solid 15 minutes. However this did not deter the Premier 1st team from forcing passes and throwing long balls in our own half giving up ball possession and valuable field position.
 
Otara mounted some pressure and scored again to take a commanding 18-10 lead. With five minutes to go the team scored in the corner and on debut hooker Lance Wright slotted the side line conversion to take the game within 2 points, 18-16 to Otara. Unfortunately, Otara scored again in the dying minutes to take the final score to 22-16 to Otara.

Thanks to all the Richmond supporters who braved the wind, cold and rain. We wish to make up for this and look to make amends this coming weekend when we take on the Te Atatu Roosters at Grey Lynn park, 12.45pm kick off.

The Richmond Premiers played their last round game at New Lynn Stags home ground, Lawson Park. The Richmond Premiers this week have a few injuries to Savi Hafoka, Lafi Faamausili, Steve Watkinson and Pati Taula so called up from Premier 1st was Andrew Kake, Santos Taurua and James Finlayson who all are confidently capable of filling in the holes. In the opening first 10 minutes Richmond started slowly missing a number of crucial tackles and allowing a lead of 12-6 to New Lynn. Our line speed was far too slow, our marker defence did not defend as well as it should and it showed with the half time score being 18-14 to New Lynn.

The second half started with both team’s not trading tries but making mistakes and incomplete sets of six. New Lynn started off better scoring an unconverted try to extend their lead 22-14. We had to be the next to score to get back in the game. This came in the form of a picture perfect pass from Tama Guthrie finding Nale Bourke who went in to score a converted try to take the score to 22-20 to New Lynn. We scored two quick converted tries to Junior Uale and Hector Purcell (picture left) to take the lead 32-22 to the Doggies. With 10 minutes left in the game we made several mistakes and surrendered field position. This allowed New Lynn back in to the game in which they scored a converted try to take the game to 32-28 to Richmond. We had a set of six and with two minutes to go we gave up the ball on the 4th tackle to hand over possession and position. New Lynn attacked the blind side and found a hole to score in the corner. With full time up it was a 32-32 draw. Thank you to the Richmond supporters who came to support their team.

Premiers came away with a  solid 52 - 14 win over the Manukau Magpies at Moyle Park. With key players returning from New Zealand Touch duties including Aaron Nootai and Tama Guthrie back on board along with explosive Centre Joe Alesi the  Richmond Premiers pack were sure to fire all cylinders and get their season back on track. The Richmond forward pack and backs started the game with a hiss and a roar shooting out to a 12 nil lead in the first 10 minutes of the game. The Doggies played to their strengths and game plan taking the lead to go to the half time break with a 20 - 6 lead.
Early in the second half the boys found it harder to mount pressure and complete their sets. The RIchmond forwards persisted with strong carries by Junior Uale and Toleafoa Leaupepe grinding the opposition forwards which allowed our spectacular halves to find space around some tiring Manukau edge defenders. Captain Aaron Nootai capitalized on some solid quick play the ball and showed great intuition to score 3 brilliant tries. The flood gates opened for  the doggies with Tama Guthrie & Joshua Siaosi touching down also in the second half. Richmond came out from Moyle park with a 52-12 win and there season campaign back on track.
 
A big thanks to Alex Afa from the Premier 1st who converted all but 2 tries. The big difference in todays game was BELIEF and the team each believe the 2012 season has only just started. There are two games remaining in this round. Player of the Day was The Whole team. Thanks to the supporters who came out to support and a big ups to Alipa Solomona, Peter Ah Kuoi and Gus Fepuleai for their words of wisdom. This Saturday the boys play Te Atatu Roosters at home in a must win game. Premier 1st open up the weekend with a kick off time of 2.45pm and Pre1miers kick off at 2.30pm. Be there at Grey Lynn park to support the boys with your colours, posters, banners and vocals.

The opening 20 minutes was a real tough grind as both teams looked to win the battle up front. Strong carries by Junior Uale and Toleafoa Leaupepe (pictured) had the home team on the front foot. As a team the boys had plenty of field position and ball posession however could not take its opportunities to put points on the board. With full back Savi Hafoka down with injury temporarily Glenfield took the opportunity to kick ahead from a well-timed scrum chase to bag first points. Both teams came to play with nothing in it at half time with Glenfield holding a slim lead 14-12.

After the half time break our Richmond boys hit their straps with some strong hit ups from powerful running utility Aukuso Faafoi and some well-timed hit and sticks from Captain Mia Tautiga. Richmond quickly put some pressure on the visiting team and managed to get out to a handy lead 26-14 with 20 minutes to play. But just like last week the boys failed to close the game out with Glenfield touching down twice in the closing stages to lock it up 26-all right on full time.

Our two Players Of the Day were backrowers Aukuso Faafoi and our captain Mia Tautiga -well done boys! Be sure to catch our next game at Grey Lynn Park this coming Saturday 21 April 2012 when we take on Otara Scorpions at 2.30pm.

Also our Richmond Club Social is this Saturday at the Richmond club rooms from 7pm. Kitchen will be open late and our very own Leonale Bourke will be DJing. Drink Specials all night. Hope to see you all there in support of our great club. #BITEEMBULLDOGS