London Welsh had the first chance to get points on the board after a high tackle but they pushed the ball to the right of the posts.
Amesbury made the first of a number of breaks through the Welsh line, he was stopped short of the line but at the resultant scrum Quins won the ball passed the ball quickly to Mike Brown coming into the line to score. Jarvis missed the conversion from wide out on the right. 5-0, 12 minutes.
Amesbury caught a clearance kick and passed the ball across the field to Brown who juggled it before quickly feeding Strettle who made good yards before offloading to Amesbury to score, Jarvis slotted the kick. 12-0, 17 mins.
Strettle was the next to get on the scoresheet when simple quick passing down the line allowed him to round his opposite number to score in the corner. Jarvis again missed from out wide. 17-0, 19 mins.
A good lineout to George Robson, who played very well throughout, saw AJ feed Turner-Hall who put a big pass right to Strettle, who made a partial break before offloading to Guest who burst over the line under the posts. Jarvis added the extras. 24-0, 22 mins.
A lineout to Kohn and a good drive by the pack saw Skinner doing a Neil Back impersonation coming up with the ball after touching down, AJ added the extras from the left. 31-0, 26 minutes.
Guest and Strettle made yards before feeding Care for an unopposed run in, AJ made no mistake with the kick. 38-0, 30 mins.
The London Welsh right wing got the first points for the visiting side after Tom Guest was penalized for hands in the ruck, the conversion hit the posts. 38-5, 34 mins.
A big tackle by Olly Kohn knocked the ball free and Guest picked it up and headed for the line but he was tackled into touch just before reaching the line.
At half time Masson, Croall and Ross came on for Turner-Hall, Millard and Ward.
Hayter, in his first game back after a long lay off because of injury, opened the scoring in the second half when he regathered the ball from a lineout close to the LW line, he ran round the base of the lineout and straight through the weak Welsh defence. AJ’s kick glanced off the outside of the post. 43-5, 44 mins.
Another good break by Charlie Amesbury saw London Welsh penalised, Brown kicked to touch and Skinner picked up his second try of the game after being driven over from the lineout. AJ got the conversion. 50-5, 47 mins.
Poor handling by London Welsh saw the ball going loose and Strettle was the first to pounce on it, he gathered it, and sprinted to the line to score, Jarvis got the kick. 57-5, 52 mins.
Sherriff replaces Hala’Ufia.
The London Welsh scrum was under a lot of pressure when their number eight picked up the ball, Sherriff and Guest nabbed him and drove him towards touch but somehow he managed to offload the ball to the openside who ran in unopposed. 57-10, 55 mins.
A good one man maul by Mike Ross saw half the LW pack pushed backwards before AJ put a perfectly weighted chip through for Amesbury to chase, Amesbury was taken out before getting to the ball but Mike Brown was also chasing hard and he got the touchdown. Adrian Jarvis’ kick from wide out on the left sailed through the posts but one of the touchjudges decided that it hadn’t and the points weren’t given! 62-10, 57 mins.
Tani Fuga replaced James Hayter.
A good lineout to Robson then a long miss pass by AJ to Mike Brown, a show of pace and an offload to Amesbury sees the score go up by another five. 67-10, 60 mins.
Jarvis and Skinner are pulled off by the management with Robshaw coming on at openside, Strettle going to fly-half and Adam Thompstone coming on on the wing.
Captain Mel Deane added more unconverted points on the half hour. 72-10, 70 mins.
The LW number eight then stood in the way of another certain scoring pass but wasn’t punished.
Strettle was replaced by Academy player Josh Moore who started off making a great tackle.
The final score of the game came about through some excellent handling - Moore to Thompstone to Fuga to Care, who could have probably scored but he passed the ball left to Mike Brown to score yet another try. 77-0.
All in all it was a very one sided contest, it’s a great shame that London Welsh didn’t provide better opposition. The performance by Quins was good nevertheless. Robson showed excellent skills at the restarts, Turner-Hall seems to have matured further over the summer and has added good distribution to his excellent tackling and boshing skills. Strettle looks very good going forward and all the Academy boys showed that they still have an eye for the tryline and a delight in scoring. Care distributed the ball well and put in a number of good box kicks. The younger youngsters like Moore and Thompstone put in good performances too.
This team is certainly good enough to go all the way in the A League again and a number of the players will no doubt be called on for some first team action during the season.
A game against stronger opposition from ND1 would probably have been of more use although running in 13 tries can only increase confidence before the real tests begin next Saturday.
Scorers: Tries: Brown (3), Amesbury (2), Strettle (2), Guest, Skinner (2), Care, Hayter, Deane. Conversions: Jarvis (6)
NEC Harlequins 2nd XV
15. Mike Brown, 14. David Strettle, 13. Jordan Turner-Hall, 12. Mel Deane (Capt.), 11. Charlie Amesbury, 10. Adrian Jarvis, 9. Danny Care, 1. Dave Millard, 2. James Hayter, 3. Lorne Ward, 4. George Robson, 5. Ollie Kohn, 6. Tom Guest, 7. Will Skinner, 8. Chris Hala'Ufia
Replacements: 16. Tani Fuga, 17. Mike Ross, 18. Jim Evans, 19. Luke Sherriff, 20. Chris Robshaw, 21. Josh Moore, 22. Tosh Masson, 23. Adam Thompstone, 24. Simon Keogh
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