"It is some time since we had an away game involving an overnight stay on the Friday.

In the halcyon days of National Division Two, this dimension was an integral part of the season, and long bus trips back from London came to lose their novelty when they occurred about eight times in each campaign.

While considerable ingenuity was exercised, there is only so much entertainment that can be derived from spending Saturday evening in a bus on the M6, nursing endless cans of warm beer.

The excursion was therefore approached with renewed enthusiasm.

The small matter of a six-hour bus journey brought to the team to a smart hotel in Slough. This location was clearly carefully chosen to make Northern boys feel at home, being an oasis of deprivation surrounded by the socio-economic excesses of the Thames Valley.

All those familiar dimensions of the overnight stay were soon in evidence.

It would be wrong to disclose the identity of the young player who unwittingly revealed his room number to a team-mate and found himself with £16 worth of room service breakfast at 6am the following morning.

Similarly, with the team packed off to bed, the officials and travelling supporters once more made the unwelcome discovery that the hotel bar was running that familiar London promotion: one drink for the price of two.

Richmond Rugby Club, founder members of the RFU and at one time a major force in the Premiership, had apparently fallen on hard times.

If this was the case, there was little evidence of it. The legacy of nearly 150 years at the top of the game has resulted in excellent facilities, a buoyant club, a team with several players of top level playing experience and a league record of 78 games without defeat.

To say that the home team were confident would be something of an under- statement, and if they had examined the visitors' away record, Ladbrokes would have offered long odds against an upset.

What followed was one of those days which restores hope and sustains a team through a long, wet winter of uneven performances.

Those present will long remember a game of the highest quality, and a display by the visitors which consistently combined the very best components of attacking and defensive capability shown only fleetingly in other games.

This week, the usual spells of breathtaking attacking play were punctuated by long periods of real tenacity in defence.

Richmond had the lion's share of the possession, a Premiership fly-half and a lot of pace in the backs.

Kendal had impenetrable defensive organisation and an old-fashioned commitment in the tackle.

We scored three outstanding tries with spectacular running and handling, led by an inspired display by Simon Mulholland: when the rain came in the final quarter, Dan Stevens and Mark Airey simply closed the game down with intelligent kicking. Even the final minutes were not as stressful as recent close games, as Richmond were kept at arm's length on the halfway line.

At the final whistle, joy was unrestrained.

This was one of the magic moments of sport that will live long in the memory.

Realism may return this Saturday with the visit of Bradford and Bingley's League of Nations XV, newly bolstered by a South African contingent fresh from the Currie Cup, but in this form, anything could happen.

Belief in magic has been restored.