Thanks to Sky Television and "Rugby World" magazine, many thousands will have been introduced to the skills of the Women's game, as Richmond took on Wasps in the Final of the RFUW Rugby World National Cup Final at Twickenham on Sunday as a warm up game to the Zurich Championship Final.

Richmond came into this game with many of their players desperately tired following a recent competition in France and only the previous week Wasps had edged out Richmond in a close encounter by fifteen points to ten. The blazing early afternoon sunshine at Twickenham would allow no mercy to any but the fittest, so the omens would have appeared to point in the direction of a strong Wasps performance, but that was to ignore the history that exists between these two London clubs.

Richmond clearly came into the game intending to make a strong statement of intent and they were the first to cast aside early nerves when Jen Dickson, although caught on the line, wriggled over to complete the score. Teresa Andrews and Jenny Sutton were dominating the scrummaging for Richmond and the towering Sutton was guaranteeing a stream of line-out possession to the Richmond half backs, Ramirez and Meston.

Paula George, the Wasps and England fullback was to have a mixed game and her difficulties started when the Richmond flyer, Emily Feltham, set her up, showed her the outside and beat her for pace to touch down under the posts. In the second half, Feltham, following a Wasps mistake, had a further chance to show her paces when she took the ball from a standing start out on the left wing and raced in to score once more. Wasps, under all kinds of pressure, then saw the ball worked out to the Richmond right, where Nicky Jupp took the ball off her toes and Paula George's tackle just failed to stop another Richmond try. Elizabeth Cribb, Richmond's centre, then raced through to score another try, brushing aside Paula George who was slow seeing the danger. With the conversion the score was thirty points to five in favour of Richmond and when with Paula George involved in a despairing Wasps attack, Chris Driver, Richmond's pacy full back, intercepted and ran some seventy metres to score out on the right wing, the final result was beyond doubt.

Wasps, with the Richmond pack wilting from the heat and the effects of their recent European trip, then came alive and through the skills of their Welsh International centre, Rhian Williams, scored two well executed tries, followed by a try from Sarah Marsh in injury time. The final scoreline of 35 to 26 hardly reflected the dominance of the Richmond side in an encounter which had to all intents and purposes been a foregone conclusion at half time.

That the Women's game has now become an integral part of the rugby year was clear to those watching on SKY TV, who would have noticed the lack of any patronising comment from the commentators who gave short shrift to any mistakes made by any of the players. Of the "Barnes - Morris" duo, only once was Morris heard to remark of the atheletic Jenny Sutton, "I'm going to have to stop talking about her - people might think that I've got an idea or two". In other respects too the game showed to advantage as throughout, the game was controlled firmly and admirably by referee Steve Savage, who was a model of clarity in his decisions and the reason for them.