With a week off from league duties, Harlequin Amateurs travelled to Sunbury to face London Irish Amateurs' second teams.

With their first team flying three leagues higher, this was expected to be a tough battle for the away side.

But there was a positive start for the Quins as Mark Sowden scored his first try for the team.

From the kick-off, Quins stole the line-out and again scored under the posts as Danny Beaumont side-stepped around the ruck.

Irish then moved into attack and won penalty after penalty as the Quins strayed offside.

Confusion soon reigned as Bruce Uglow was penalised for not releasing and then harshly yellow carded for the away side's consistent offending - Irish took the three points - and quickly gained another three for more Quin offences.

At 14-6, the home side thought they were back in it.

Soon, however, Quins were back on the attack and James Loizos saw an opportunity for a cross-field kick and Nick Marren caught it to score.

In the second half, Irish drove a lineout over for the five points.

Immediately, Quins scored a drop goal through Loizos.

Then hands put Bruce Uglow through for a try, with Sowden capitalising as the Quin forwards disrupted an Irish scrum.

Hamish Moffett then set up Uglow and Marren broke through and beat the Irish full-back in a one-on-one.

The final minutes saw interesting refereeing, strangely reversing penalties,and then showing a yellow card to Dave Salomon. It didn't change the scoreline, however, and Quins travelled home with a comprehensive 44-16 victory.

Harlequin Amateurs' seconds lost 42-0 against Chiswick who top the Middlesex Merit Table unbeaten, while the vets got back to winning ways with a 20-5 win against Teddington Antlers' third team in a local derby.