It was  bad day at the office for Chinnor at North Hinksey on Saturday. The Quins had the nudge on Chinnor at the set scrums and with Paddy Stennings having difficulty in hitting his jumpers, quality possession was at a premium for the visitors. Chinnor have excelled in both these departments during the season so it was a surprise to find them struggling in these areas. Allied to this James Cathcart had an off day with his radar in finding the touchline and Ben Hewitt found the conditions not suited to his counter attacking tendencies. This all added up to a rather disappointing and lack lustre performance. One area however that was quite outstanding in the first half was the Chinnor defence.

They were playing up the slope and into a swirling wind. Quins had the majority of possession but were unable to breach the well organised Chinnor defence. It was always going to be a feisty encounter, derby games between Chinnor and Oxford Harlequins normally are. Owen Gustafson, ex Harlequins captain, was made aware of this in the 20th minute when he was the recipient of a stamp by Chris Aldous who was yellow carded. Chinnor took the lead in the 34th minute when Grizz McQuire was driven over the line via a rolling maul. At this moment, even recognising Chinnor's shortcomings in the set pieces, this appeared to be an important score. However, in stoppage time, a wayward Chinnor kick saw full back Preston put a kick across field to set up a try for the supporting Aldous. A conversion from Jones gave the Quins a 2 point lead at half-time.

Oxford Harlequins gained momentum after the break and took the game to Chinnor. With Jones adding a penalty and Rowe adding a try when Chinnor failed to  clear a high kick in front of their posts, the visitors had it all to do. They did have a ray of hope when Quins were reduced to 14 men with another stamping incident , this time by DeLange, but it was not to be. A missed tackle in the middle of the park allowed Payne in under the posts and with Jones converting, Chinnor were in real trouble. Although Jaike Carter went over from a well worked move, their fate was sealed with a fourth try by Andy Henley, again converted by Jones. A charge down try by replacement Ed Rixon gave Chinnor their 3rd try in the 77th minute but it was far to late to make any difference at this stage. There was just enough time left for Quins to receive their 3rd yellow card when Goodyear was binned for a professional foul.

Chinnor will be well disappointed with this performance. They were definitely up for the game, but unfortunately they chose this local derby to play their worst game of the season. Having said this Quins acknowledged that this, in contrast, was their best display of the season to date. Chinnor will learn from this. There are some lessons that will be taken on board and they will come back better from them.