Rugby: Classy Quins stop the rot

From the archive, first published Tuesday 5th Oct 2004.

Powergen South West 1: After two successive defeats, Oxford Harlequins broke their duck with a convincing 34-7 away victory in their first meeting with Gloucester Old Boys.

Quins started with a bang, scoring in the third minute when fly half Dean Aven's pass sent Henry Pooler slicing through the Gloucester defence from the halfway line.

They never looked back after that, and by half-time had opened up a 22-7 lead.

Quins increased their lead in the seventh minute with another try by Pooler after a break by scrum-half Anthony Cope.

With the forwards dominating and hooker Simon Chadbone making some surging runs, Quins increased their lead through Clinton Searle, before the home side reduced the arrears with a penalty try.

It didn't take long for the visitors to regain the initative. A minute later, Elliott Stephenson appeared on the left wing to go over, Aven landing a fine touchline conversion.

In the second half, Old Boys had the wind and slope in their favour, but it was Quins who increased their lead with an Anthony Cope try.

For the next 15 minute, Old Boys besieged the Quins line, but excellent defence repelled drive after drive.

Fittingly, Quins had the final say when Anthony Cope made a break and sent centre Andy Noyce streaking through for an excellent try which Aven converted.

Chinnor gifted Clevedon three tries in the first half and paid the price with a 29-9 defeat.

Twice, the home side disrupted Chinnor's put-in to score from almost identical positions.

Clevedon opened their account from a scrum 20 metres from the Chinnor line when scrum half Vails hampered opposite number Danny Burns, allowing Pearce to drive over for a try which No 8 O'Rourke converted.

Then Chinnor stand off James Cathcart put in a chip kick to the corner, only to find Clevedon's Kyle Palm, who ran 90 metres to score under the posts.

A third try followed after a repeat of their scrummage fiasco, this time Owen Biggins scoring. O'Rourke converted.

This was all the more frustrating as they had pounded the Clevedon line for several minutes to no avail.

To rub salt into the visitors' wounds, Clevedon were awarded a try on the stroke of half-time when the ball appeared to have crossed the deadball line.

Three second-half penalties from the boot of Cathcart gave Chinnor some hope of a revival, but a penalty by O'Rourke towards the end settled it for Clevedon.

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