Certainly the first half gave no indication of such a result. The Worcester United team was much older and much heavier than the young Quins side and they set off with a will to show that the First Division knew how to play this game. Immediate pressure brought a penalty after only three minutes, kicked by John Higgins. From the restart, it was clear that the Worcester forwards were going to try to dominate the game. They produced a series of pick-up and drives that Quins did well to repel. However when the advance was well into the visitors’ 22, the ball was moved left to right and back across the field and the resulting overlap produced a try for centre Neil Starling. The conversion was missed and Quins were 8 – 0 down after only as many minutes.

Quins sought to attack but a rolling maul failed to reach the line and another backs move broke down when the final kick through went straight into Worcester hands. Worcester forwards continued to pick and drive with the hooker, Stewart Pearl, making several good runs. Quins were trying hard to regain some advantage, but the Worcester defence was firm. A good run by Tom Williams ran out of support a couple of metres from the line and Worcester seemed to be on the verge of scoring on several occasions.

Then after a line-out on the Quins 22 the ball went loose into the hands of John Higgins who could scarcely believe the gap which appeared and allowed him to run through unhindered to score under the posts. The conversion was a formality and the score 15 – 0 and the game rapidly disappearing from Quins grasp after only 25 minutes. Despite this they set to and a series of attacks developed including a rolling maul which was halted just short of the line by an accidental offside.

A penalty 25 metres out in front of the posts produced a successful kick from Fitzgerald and was followed a minute or so later by another for Worcester and yet another for Quins to bring the score to 18 – 6 at half time.

When the second half began there was clearly great determination by Quins to retrieve the situation. Penalties began to abound, but none were successfully kicked for points. Two attempts to put Ugo Monye away down the right wing were slightly over powered and just out of his reach. Another well organised driving maul failed to reach the line. Ace Tiatia charged down a clearance kick, but it fell into Worcester hands behind their line. Eventually, at the 63rd minute another run by Ugo Monye assisted by Ace Tiatia put Tom Williams in for a try which was converted by Fitzgerald to bring the score to 18 – 13.

Quins had begun to get some better possession and their lineout defence was working well. Three successive line-outs were stolen on Worcester throws and the home side was being largely penned in their own half. Penalties continued to be missed on both sides.

An incident off the ball resulted in Sam Walton being sent to the sin-bin. With 14 men Quins stepped up the pressure, gradually pushing the Worcester defence back towards their own goal line until with the clock showing 80 minutes elapsed Andrew Reay went over between the posts. Seb Fitzgerald converted and the match was won.

Teams:
Worcester United
Hugo Southwell; Tom Richardson; Neil Starling; James Ogilvie-Bull; Craig Hudson; Jon Higgins; John O'Reilly; Gareth Mason; Stewart Pearl; George Davis ; James Percival; Craig Gillies; Neil Mason ;Gavin Pfister; Jim Jenner ( Captain)
Replacements: Chris Moule; Matt Mountford; Craig Jones ;Dan O'Connell; Mark Howell; James Matthews; Matt Payne

Harlequins 2nd XV
Tom Williams; Ugo Monye; Tom Allen; Andrew Reay; Max Wilcocks (rep Jon Hammond 51); Seb Fitzgerald; Scott Bemand (rep Matthew Powell 51) Sam Walton Ace Tiatia; Jon Dawson; Karl Rudzki; Simon Miall (Captain); Darryl Griffin; Chris Cracknell; Kai Horstmann.
Replacements:Bruce Starr, Pablo Cardinali, Tom Guest, Matthew Powell, Adrian Jarvis, Jon Hammond.

     Referee: Fred Copestake
     Touch Judges: Stuart Mills; Roger Whitfield
     [all N. Midlands Society]

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