Oxford Harlequins secured back-to-back wins with a 22-17 victory at home to Exmouth on Saturday.
Second row Michael Forde got the scoring underway on seven minutes, intercepting a pass and galloping 50 metres to score, with fly half Joey Todd adding the extras to give Quins a 7-0 lead. The visitors began to dominate territory, but Quins always looked dangerous on the break when play was spread wide.
Exmouth missed a straightforward penalty and then Quins winger Tom Jelly chose the wrong option when he picked up a loose ball, checking his run and allowing Exmouth to make the tackle when he could have gone straight for the corner. It was 12-0 to the hosts on 32 minutes when Quins got a driving maul going close to the Exmouth line and a splinter group surged off the pack to drive flanker Julian Watkins over the line for an unconverted try.
Poor handling from the restart put Exmouth on the front foot and from the ensuing ruck they touched down wide on the left to reduce the deficit to 12-5 at the interval.
Quins dominated the first 20 minutes after the restart, with a Todd penalty making it 15-5. But with 15 minutes left they allowed the visitors back into the game, with a try in the right corner.
The conversion was missed and Quins struck back quickly, with centre Martin Nutt making a vital interception before offloading to Todd who dove over the line and then converted his own score.
Leading 22-10 going into the final part of the game, Exmouth broke clear thanks to some poor tackling but despite scoring the final try of the afternoon, the win went to the Quins.
