Richmond prop forward Craig Trenier believes he and his fellow forwards are close to being the best scrummaging unit in the league.

The west London outfit’s comprehensive 22-5 victory over Coventry last Saturday was largely thanks to a dominant display at the set piece, drawing huge praise from head coach Steve Hill, and Trenier believes another showing this week at Ealing would be a huge statement.

“Our scrummaging has been phenomenal because our full pack has an extra year maturity and we are personally connected now,” said Trenier who is in his second year with the club.

“Having a carbon copy of the team last year, we are 12 months more experienced as a team with not many leaving, so we are building on where we left off which we were happy with at the time.”

Trenier who juggles running his recruitment agency with packing down for Richmond feels the club are seeing the best of him as he’s settled in to the ‘Richmond-way.’ He also believes that a victory over one of the ‘bigger’ sides in the league is the aim and would signify the team’s intent and trajectory.

“We didn’t beat Ealing or Bristol last year, the top 2, and this year we want to win at least one of those games. We’re not too far away, and if we get a win over Ealing or London Irish, that’ll get us up in to the top %. So a win this weekend would be a major achievement.”

Richmond currently sit sixth in the Championship after back to back victories and Trenier believes that being the only non-professional set-up in the league is an asset.

“We aren’t there for a pay cheque, we’re there to enjoy it. The time we spend with the team training we shouldn’t be beating these professional teams, so it’s an added insensitive and satisfaction getting wins.

“That’s not to say or training isn’t up to pro standard. Culture wise I think we are leaps and bounds ahead of every other team too, everyone is chipping in. There’s nothing corporate here, it’s more old fashioned.”

Looking ahead to their weekend derby the Irishman who came from Ulster is relishing the prospect of going toe to toe with the league’s second place side.

“We’ll be looking to get a few pens in the set piece and dismantle their scrum, our lineout is coming on well, and our backs have pulled their finger out and have been phenomenal recently.”

Steve Hill echoed Trenier’s thoughts ahead of the weekend and highlighted the importance of targeting at least a bonus point from every away game.

“Our guys recognise it’s one of the biggest challenges of the season,” said Hill.

“But you take a group of part time players to guys who want to be in the prem next year, we don’t have anything to lose, and that’s how it’ll be on Saturday.”

“Although we sit midd-ish of the table at the moment, there’s not many points in it from top to bottom so bonus points are important and it can tell a lot in the table. We need to be ruthless in getting those points.”