Barely getting out of 2nd gear, Gosford ran in 7 tries in a shortened game that was played at something of a ponderous pace.

With Quins turning up short of a full side, Gosford players Adam Dutton and Rich Robbins donned the home side's colours to make the game 14 vs 14. Gosford scored with the first play of the match, with prop Gareth Ellis storming over on the left following great work from Andy Schwarz and Andy Trenier. Tim Ellis converted. Soon afterwards, centre Neill McReynolds ran under the posts from inside his own half, beating several defenders on the way. Tim Ellis again added the conversion (14-0).

There then followed a lengthy stoppage due to a nasty injury to Rich Robbins. Having fallen the wrong way in a tackle, Richie suffered a dislocated knee and had to be carted off in an ambulance. The game moved onto another pitch, and with the departure of a Quins prop due to another injury, the scrums went uncontested. On the new pitch, Gosford's Andy Trenier scored a super try, taking a neat reverse pass from Tim Sutton and then slaloming the length of the field to score under the posts, Tim Ellis converting (21-0). The final try of a shortened first half was scored by Tim Ellis, who ran onto Sutton's pass after the latter had zig-zagged his way from 22 to 22 without a hand being laid on him (28-0, half-time).

In the second half it was more of the same, with both sides making handling errors and struggling to find any kind of intensity. Gosford continued to score pretty much every time they got the ball to the backs, and Trenier increased the lead when he provided good support to another elusive Sutton run. This time, Gareth Ellis added the extras (35-0). Further Gosford scores came from Dave Barker (converted by Tim Ellis), who strolled over after good work from Dave Murray, and again from Trenier, who completed his hat-trick with the last play of the game. Tim Ellis somehow managed to miss the last conversion from under the posts to leave the final score at 47-0.

OXFORD HARLEQUINS IV 0-47 GOSFORD ALL BLACKS III

Tries: Gareth Ellis, Neill McReynolds, Andy Trenier (3), Tim Ellis, Dave Barker
Kicks: Tim Ellis (5 conversions), Gareth Ellis (1 conversion)

Man of the match: Andy Trenier

Gosford squad: Stuie Fouracre, Brian Strong, Gareth Ellis, Rick Astley, Dave Barker, Joel Walker, David Murray, Tim Ellis, Tim Sutton, Andy Schwarz, Neill McReynolds, Andy Trenier, Rich Robbins, Rob Eynon, Adam Dutton, Mark Wingfield-Digby

Thanks to Rich, Andy S, Adam and Mark, who all donned the Quins shirt at some point in the game. Finally, get well soon Richie-lad - hope to see you back on the pitch sooner rather than later.