Oxford Harlequins 15, Chinnor 46

AN early try blitz meant this National 3 South West derby was always plain sailing for Chinnor.

The visitors never hit top gear, but punished Quins severely with their pace out wide as Mark Chase grabbed an excellent hat-trick.

Chinnor made the most the most of some slack defence to secure their four-try bonus point after just 25 minutes.

Quins were better in the second half, but they must tighten up if they are to have a realistic chance of avoiding relegation.

Their line-out struggled throughout, while their scrum seemed to lose its way, with Chinnor’s greater consistency paying dividends in both cases.

Flanker Nick Harrison was a late inclusion in the Chinnor side, replacing lock Andy Smith, who was held up by a motorway crash.

Chinnor wing Tristan Corpe opened the scoring with a fourth-minute try as Quins were undone by the move’s pace and precision.

Four minutes later, fellow wing Chase finished superbly when the home defence surely should have denied him a second try.

When full back Henry Colver ran through for an easy third on 11 minutes, it looked as if this could be a worse hiding than Chinnor’s 66-3 demolition of Quins in October.

But the home side steadied the ship slightly, while Chinnor made some uncharacteristically sloppy errors, such as fly half James Cathcart missing touch with a penalty.

The visitors’ bonus point came when centre Sam Stoop powered over after a clever off-load from flanker Alex Waddingham.

Corpe scorched his way through at high speed for try No 5, which Cathcart converted as he had done to the previous effort.

Chinnor led 29-0 at the break without having had to do that much, but Quins came out fired up for the second half.

Centre Martin Nutt read some pedestrian passing to score an interception try from Chinnor’s ten-metre line, converted by fly half Matt Smith.

Smith soon added a penalty and the hosts had some momentum.

However, Chinnor exploded back into life after taking a scrum against the head.

Quins had barely drawn breath before Chase motored in down the left wing for his second.

Another scrum turnover followed before Chase’s great pace earned him a well-deserved hat-trick try on 55 minutes.

Back came Quins with full back Huw Jones, Nutt and Charlie Sammut, now at No 8, threatening.

A moment of real skill led to Chinnor’s eighth try as Stoop gathered his perfectly-weighted chip to score, with Cathcart converting.

Quins’ hard-tackling flanker Sione Vaiom’ounga peeled off a scrum to bag Quins’ second try on 73 minutes.

The hosts produced some more good running to complete a much better second half, but Chinnor had never looked like relinquishing their early lead.

Oxford Harlequins: Jones, Pepiol, Nutt, Tevita, Jelly, Smith, Cosins (Todd 74), Chadone (capt), Edney, Steventon (Boulton 67), Sammut, Brown, Farahani, Vaiomo’unga, Powell (McDowell 52).

Chinnor: Colver, T Corpe, Goode, Stoop, Chase, Cathcart, Jones (Hopwood 51), Winpenny (capt), Tattersall (Cawston 67), Pickett, Mowbray (Smith 51), Jackman, Harrison, Waddingham, Gilbert.

Referee: E McWalter (Gloucestershire).

Man-of-the-match: Chase.