5:18pm Monday 8th February 2010
By Ed Mezzetti
Oxford Harlequins 19, Weston-super-Mare 35
A dynamic start proved in vain as Oxford Harlequins were soundly beaten in National 3 South West.
Quins roared into a 12-0 lead with their backs, led by Martin Nutt, tearing Weston apart.
But the visitors clawed their way into the match before their outstanding fly half Glen Dickson kicked them to a deserved victory.
Weston recovered from 19-7 down as Dickson bagged a 25-point haul.
Such a result looked remote as Quins went ahead with a pacy counter-attacking try on four minutes.
Wing Hugh Jones broke well on the left and the ball was recycled for centre Anthony Cope to find wing Nutt with a long scoring pass.
Fly half Jeff Stewart converted from the touchline, but couldn’t repeat the task after Nutt ran in his second from fully 70 metres, beating half the Weston side in the process.
Although not far off the bottom, Weston had won their previous three matches, so must have been confident.
They gave themselves hope on 16 minutes when James MacKay set up fellow centre James Reid to score on the right, Dickson converting.
That hope appeared to have been snuffed out almost immediately when Quins centre Dom Maley ghosted through for try No 3 after a throwing a clever dummy and Stewart converted.
Jones nearly created a fourth try for full back Graham Crapper before Stewart missed a sitter of a penalty.
This seemed to galvanise Weston, who struck in stoppage time with a Dickson penalty and a try from Mackay, which Dickson converted.
Quins held a narrow lead, but the rot had now set in.
Weston were totally dominating the scrums and a 44th-minute infringement allowed Dickson to kick them ahead.
Quins then had flanker Tim Knapp sin-binned, with Dickson punishing them again from the resulting penalty.
Weston had replacement wing James Arnold yellow-carded for an off-the-ball clash with Cope, but this did not slow their momentum.
Oxford University captain Nick Haydon had a solid debut at scrum half, but his break and then a forward pass to hooker Dave Needham illustrated Quins’ woes.
Three more penalties from Dickson’s metronomic boot put Weston 32-19 up.
Quins’ best chance of the entire second half came from a driving maul, but they lacked imagination.
Instead, Dickson had the final say with a drop goal.
Oxford Harlequins: Crapper, Nutt, Cope, Maley (Sewell 27-30 [blood]), H Jones, Stewart, Haydon, Eckert (Chadbone 50), Needham, DeLange (capt), Purchase (Davies 64), Pearson, Newman, Knapp, Welburn.
Referee: J Healey (Bath) Quins-of-the-match: Nutt.
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