Outweighed by Northolt’s pack, Quins easily outdistanced the opposition in the first half. Winger Henry Quinlan opened the Quins account with a try six minutes into the first half, followed shortly by Kwasi Appah who scored his first of two tries of the game. Nick Wootton converted his own try, before converting tries from Kwasi Appah and James Hayden. When the whistle blew for half time, the Amateurs had 31 points on the board.

A more resolute Northolt team started the second half and held the Amateurs at bay keeping the ball with their forwards and denying Quins the chance to pass to their back line. Quins defence also frustrated Northolt who camped in Quins 22 and repeatedly attacked the line. Frustration mounted with some high tackling and ‘handbags’, before their tenacity paid off with an unconverted try.

However, Quins broke through only once in the second half with a darting run from Henry Quinlan who passed to Matt Stevens to touch down for the final try of the game. The final score was 5 – 36 to Harlequins who retain their third place in the Herts/Middlesex 3 South league.

It was an important win according to Acting Captain Matt Stevens. “It’s allowed us, hopefully, to get back on track and continue in a positive direction.”

Chris Kelly awarded Man of the Match to Matt Pead “His distribution and support play was good, and extremely cohesive. He was always there on the spot”

Sadly Cavaliers ran out the losers when they met Rosslyn Park Emerging 35 - 14. “We let in 3 early tries in the first half which stuffed us up” said Player -Manager Jarrod Smith. “The second half was pretty even, - 7 all - so we pulled them back a wee bit.” He said it was a hard but enjoyable game despite the weather and public transports conspiring against them to get to the ground on time.

Socially speaking…
Saturday was the final game for 1st team ‘Scud Stud’ Hamid Zayouna who leaves this week to work in Basel, Switzerland. We are hoping he will be able to return for the odd game, and wish him all the best in the land of cheese and money.

Happy Birthday goes to Henry Quinlan who played a stormer of a game…and yes, we all know your real age Henry ! And birthday greetings to Kezia Cottrell, not only our Secretary’s daughter but a staunch supporter of the Amateurs.

And Captain Matt Stevens had the pleasure of buying two jugs for the team after the game…as punishment for his two kicks from the back of the scrum. A number 8 kicking ? Shocking behaviour !

And Finally…
Next week the 1st team will meet league leaders London French, with the Wanderers meeting Richmond in the Merit Table. Both games are away. The Cavaliers game against Blackheath has been cancelled.
1st team squad:

Ben Fretwell, Henry Quinlan, Nick Wootton, James Hayden, Colin Crowther, Tim Cairns, Matthew Pead, Andrew Lawrence, Jon Fairweather, Christopher Liddington, Malcolm Wall, Hamid Zayouna, ‘Rocky’ Aldwinckle, Matt Stevens (Capt.) Kwasi Appah, Russell Wigginton, Dave Wells