OXFORD HARLEQUINS 60, GROVE 19: A spectacular display of slick passing and handling sent Oxford Harlequins storming to a convincing victory over derby rivals Grove at Horspath Road on Saturday.

Harlequins' Rob Dow Quins ran Grove ragged to race over for nine tries and go top of South West 2 East.

On this form, it's hard to see anybody stopping them securing their second successive promotion.

Full back Dave Boreham led the way with a hat-trick of tries, but he would be first to pay tribute to the slick work of centres Mike Swadling and Richard Rouse.

Behind the dominant Quins pack, half-backs Anthony Cope and Chris Penney found plenty of room to unleash their exciting back division.

Poor Grove, who were missing key players Duncan Barbour, Rob Weaving and Ben Nichol from their pack, hardly knew what hit them, but kept going until the end.

Despite playing into a strong wind, Quins led 19-3 after 26 minutes.

Rouse gathered Penney's chip ahead for the first try. The Australian centre set up flanker Mark Dixon for the second, and then put Boreham in under the posts with another well-timed pass. Penney added two conversions.

Grove, to their credit, hit back with two tries in two minutes to close the gap to 19-17 at half-time.

Their outstanding player, centre Ben Dean, linked with Wayne Coad to put lively fly half Richard Williams in under the posts, and then full back Nick Sevier followed his own chip ahead to score.

Williams added two conversions to his earlier penalty goal and Grove were back in the game.

But not for long. Quins, with prop Henk Hattingh and lock Rob Dow making some big hits, scored three tries in the first 12 minutes of the second half.

Skipper Swadling's quick hands put Boreham over in the corner, while Penney made tries for Swadling and Boreham.

Quins' dominance was temporarily halted as No 8 Paul Nye left the field with a badly torn ear.

But they were soon back in full flow, with further tries from winger Martin Nutt, flanker Jim Anderson and Anthony Cope emphasising their dominance.

Penney added a penalty and three conversions in a Quins' second-half display, that sent a message to every other team in the league: "We're going up."

Oxford Harlequins: Boreham, Nutt, Swadling, Rouse, Recchia, Penney, A Cope, Hattingh, Edwards (Lawfull 57), Chadbone, Dow, Chatterton, Dixon, Anderson, Nye (J Cope 55).

Grove: Sevier, Hudson, Coad, Dean, Lewis, Williams, P Maryon, McBain, Morrison, Eckert, S Maryon, Turner, Harpwood, Broadley, Hall.