Director of rugby Geoff Richards hopes Richmond’s Saturday’s 26-15 triumph over Henley Hawks is the signal for a complete turnaround in the club’s fortunes in 2010.

Richards’ men ended a seven-match losing streak - stretching back to October - at the weekend with a bonus point to boot thanks to tries from Toby Henry, Ed Rosa (2), Tim Cook.

And the Athletic Ground chief reckons it is no more than the players deserve for their commitment over the past three months.

“The dressing room was a much more pleasant place to be after that at the weekend,” he said.

“We have moved a couple of places up the table and we have to make sure we continue to do that.

“There is a lot of character and strength within the squad and that has been born out of the last few weeks.

“The scoreline flattered Henley because I thought we deserved to win more comfortably, but a win is a win.”

Richards has deployed 44 different players in his starting line-up this season and of those, only five have featured in all of the club’s National Division Two South games since the start of the campaign.

Richmond were boosted by the returns of scrum-half Kris Greene and centre Alex MacLennan at the weekend, as they begin to welcome back a hosts of crocked stars.

And the director of rugby reckons that and the pressure of repeating last season’s fourth place finish, has been the main problem for his struggling side.

“When you look at the number of players we have had to use because of unavailability and injury and it is easy to see why we have struggled,” he added.

“Consistency in selection has been shot to pieces because of the injuries. There have been so many weddings this year as well, I think there must be something in the water.

“Because we did so phenomenally well last year, the expectation of going one step further has put greater pressure on the players when I think we may have been punching above our weight.”

Richmond make the trip to Worthing on Saturday and Richards is not expecting an easy ride.

He said: “They are especially hard to beat at home, but if keep working hard and working for each other, hopefully we will continue to turn the corner.”

Richmond’s next three fixtures: Jan 30 Worthing (a), Feb 6 Canterbury (h), 13 Southend (h).