Oxford Harlequins enjoyed a high-scoring 45-19 win at Old Redcliffians on Saturday, but find themselves in the relegation spots after being docked points for fielding an ineligible player.
Martin Nutt scored a hat trick for the Quins, who gave a debut to Tongan World Cup flanker Sione Vaiomo’unga. Winger Dave Harris put the Bristol side ahead with an unconverted try on 10 minutes, but Anthony Cope took a good offload from Ramen Farhani to cross for Quins, with Joey Todd's conversion putting Oxford 7-5 ahead.
Two tries from Chris Thompson and Mike Schropfer gave the hosts the lead back, but before the break Quins went back in front through Adam Pearson and then Nutt with his first of the afternoon. Todd added the extras to both tries to make it 21-19 to Quins at half time.
Redcliffians were reduced to 14 men when Scott Coster saw yellow, and then Schropfer was shown a straight red for throwing a punching and Quins took full advantage of the extra men with two tries from Nutt and another from Tom Jelly.
But the side found themselves docked five points by the RFU for playing Luke Brown at lock against Bournemouth in the league on September 3. The deduction sees Quins lying 12th in National 3 South West ahead of Saturday's home game against mid-table Exmouth.
