September 6, 2025
Whilst the Championship, or Champ Rugby as it has now been rebranded, doesn’t commence until October, the National Leagues started today so it was an opportunity to make a first ever visit to Oxford Harlequins RFC, who play in the level 4 National League Two East.
Oxford Harlequins RFC
Oxford Harlequins RFC were formed in 1996 following the merger of Oxford Marathons RFC and Oxford Old Boys RFC. The new club took the name Oxford Harlequins and adopted the colours of the two clubs into a new shirt with a classic Harlequins quadrant design, albeit with different colours to the Twickenham based outfit.
Between 1996 to 2018 the club had several homes in Oxford before a deal was agreed in 2018 between Oxford City Council and the RFU to grant Oxford Harlequins a long lease at Horspath Sports Ground, close to the Mini factory in Cowley, with a complete refurbishment of the facilities and the installation of a 3G pitch.
In 2021, Oxford Harlequins decided to rebrand, with a new logo, and dropping Harlequins in favour of Quins. However, as the RFU and BBC websites continue to refer to the club as Oxford Harlequins, that is good enough for Fatbear !
Harlequins won the 2021/22 level 6 South-West Tribute South-East 1 East, losing just one game out of 26 to pip Banbury by three points. Their reward was to be allocated to London Regional 1 South Central, where they finished a respectable fourth, but for 2022/23 they were moved to Regional 1 Midlands, and they topped the league, finishing 7 points ahead of Stourbridge to be promoted to level 4. After playing in three different regions in three seasons, Harlequins were then allocated to the step 4 East region rather than the West, again showing how flexible the regional allocations can be !
Oxford Harlequins Last Season
Quins avoided relegation in their first season at Level 4, finishing 16 points clear of Colchester and Worthing, with a 7-1-18 record, and racked up 20 bonus points. Their games were invariably high scoring, conceding over 1000 points but scoring 721 themselves.
Harlequins had started the season slowly, with just a home draw with Henley in their opening 6 games, before victories were recorded at home over fellow strugglers Colchester ( 48-22 ) and Worthing ( 34-20 ). However, Harlequins had been successful in racking up 4 try losing bonus points to stay above the relegation zone. A home victory over Bury St Edmunds was then also registered ( 38-31 ).
After three wins in 17 games, Harlequins hit form with four consecutive victories, at home to Dorking ( 48-24 ), at Colchester ( 40-33 ), at home to Sevenoaks ( 43-33 ), and at Worthing ( 36-35 ). However, they finished the season with 5 consecutive losses.
Fly-half Ewan Fox was the top points scorer with 111 points whilst back-row forward Willo Bicknell scored 16 tries. However, Bicknell had joined Rams in the summer and is likely to be a significant loss to Quins, whilst Fox was missing from today’s squad.
The average home attendance for Oxford Harlequins was 222, with a high of 456 watching the final match of the season against Barnes, whilst the low was the 110 to watch the game against Worthing.
Oxford Harlequins Squad This Season
Only 5 of the side named for today’s match started the last game of last season, but another two were on the bench. Three more of the starting XV had played from Quins last season as had one more of the substitutes.
Amongst the newcomers were tight-head prop Ben Wilkinson, who had played four times for Chinnor, lock Jimmi McNally was returning from Bath University, 18- year-old flanker Drew Johnson was also registered with Coventry, and wing Jacob Seddon was with the RAF.
Oxford Harlequins have a close arrangement with the RAF base at nearby Brize Norton, with hooker James Roberts and scrum-half Harry Davies also being in the forces.
Hooker Harry Bicknell was also registered with Rams, whilst Lewis Vatcher was an Exeter Chiefs Academy player.
Watching Oxford Harlequins
My only previous experience of watching Oxford Harlequins was in 2007/08 when they visited Chinnor for a South-West 1 encounter, which was at the time the 5th level of the Rugby Pyramid. In those days Chinnor and Oxford Harlequins were fierce local rivals, and Chinnor won 25-13 to win the league. Playing fly-half that day for Harlequins and kicking 8 points was Frank Jones, who went on to have a long career as a scrum half for Chinnor.
Since then, Chinnor have progressed to the level 2 Championship, whilst Quins dropped to level 6 for many seasons before rising back up to level 4.
Westcombe Park RFC
Westcombe Park were founded in 1904 and now play in Orpington. The name comes from the residential area in Greenwich where they were originally formed. The club played at various sites before moving to Orpington in 1936 and to the current ground in 1990.
Home is now the 3,200 capacity Goddington Dene, which has 200 seats, and their nickname is Combe.
Combe won the 2022/23 Regional 1 South to earn promotion to National League Two East, where they have finished 9th and then 5th.
Westcombe Park Last Season
Park had a 16-0-10 record to achieve a 5th placed finished, with 9 wins at home and 7 wins away.
Ex-Harrogate and Caldy fly-half Nathan Wyman was the top scorer with 165 points. Ex-Cardiff University scrum-half Mikel Davies scored 16 tries and number 8 Nicholas Cook touched down 13 times. Ex-Tunbridge Wells full-back Toby Wallace scored 9 tries and contributed 91 points in total.
Flanker Harry Hudson had previously played for Rosslyn Park and Rochford Hundred and was now an assistant coach, whilst fellow back-row forward Kai Devine was previously with Ampthill. South African centre Kyan Braithwaite made over 100 appearances for Canterbury.
Today’s starting XV only included 5 players who played in Combe’s last match of last season, but I was advised by one of their officials that only three of their line-up were new to the club this season, flanker Namil Khalil, fly-half Charles Fatoma and full-back Ed Hartley.
Their average home attendance s this season was 227, with a high of 350 watching the match against Old Albanians, whilst the low was also 110, and also against Worthing.
Previous Meetings
Westcombe Park were triumphant in both league meeting last season, winning 46-24 at home in October and 55-28 in Oxford in January 2025
The sides had also met in an EDF Trophy match in 2006, when Westcombe Park were narrow 21-15 winners in Oxford.
Pre-season Results
Westcombe Park had played three warm-up matches. They began with a 64-19 win at Brentwood, who are two levels below in the rugby pyramid, and then lost 26-40 under lights at National League One Rosslyn Park after being only 12-14 behind at the interval. The final match saw a 35-29 victory at Colchester.
Oxford Harlequins had played three friendlies and lost all of them, two of which were against teams they will face in National League Two East. Firstly, they went down 32-38 at home to London Welsh and then to Henley 12-47, also at home. Their final pre-season game was at National League One Rams, where predictably they suffered a heavy 7-57 defeat.
Matchday Information
The journey from Opington to Oxford is approximately 90 miles and according to AA Route Planner would normally take one hour 40 minutes around the M25 and down the M40.
The weather at the 15.00 kick-off was sunny and 21 degrees but there was a strong breeze blowing mostly across the pitch, which twice blew my hat off !
Entrance was £12 for adults, £9 for OAP and free for Under 16s. An online programme had been produced in advance of today’s game. There were no tannoy announcements, and whilst the Oxford Harlequins side had been published on their Facebook page, I was only able to obtain the Westcombe Park side from one of their officials.
The Horspath Sport Ground has an artificial surface which is surrounded by white fencing similar to that at Chippenham’s ground. There is one small “Meccano” stand situated on one side of the pitch alongside the 22 metre line closest to the clubhouse, which has around 100 seats. There were plenty of spaces in the car park at the ground when I arrived.
Kent brewery Shepherd Neame had three of their brews on tap behind the bar, with Spitfire Amber on hand pull and First Drop Session IPA, but I opted for the Spitfire Lager which cost £5.65. Singha, Guinness and Orchard View Cider were also available.
Westcombe Park were in their usual kit of dark blue and white hooped shirts, with blue shorts and blue and white hooped socks. The red numbers on the back of their shirts were hard to make out from a distance though ! Oxford Harlequins were in their usual red, yellow, dark blue and light blue quarters, with dark blue shorts and multi-coloured socks.
Match Report
Westcombe Park kicked off towards the clubhouse end and were quickly pinged for not releasing. Quins cleared to halfway and won their line-out ball, but their move came to nothing and Park had the put in at the scrum. Park spread the ball amongst their backs and Sonny Gay made a break, only to be halted by a high tackle from Quins wing Gabe Hammond. Although the penalty was awarded to Westcombe Park, the Harlequins player had come off worst in the impact, and an early substitution needed to made by the home side, with Jon Hughes entering the fray.
Park kicked into the Quins 22, where lock Fergus Chawner won the lineout and the Park pack rumbled towards the tryline. Quins managed to halt the rolling mull just short of the line, but a long pass found Chawner on his own by the touchline to go over in the corner for the first try of the match. The conversion from Fatoma slid wide of the far post so it was 0-5 after 4 minutes.
Oxford Harlequins responded with several phases of play around the Park 22 metre line and an ambitious long pass was intercepted to give Park a potential length of the pitch try, but the referee had been playing an advantage and play came back for the penalty, which was kicked to 5 metres. The lineout was secured and Quins had a few drives at the tryline, but with another penalty advantage they knocked on. A quick tap was taken, but a knock-on in the tackle turned over possession, and Combe attacked from behind their own try line to get towards the halfway line, but were tackled into touch.
McNally won the lineout for Quins but a move down the blindside was thwarted by a tackle into touch. Devine won the lineout for the visitors and full-back Hartley made a great break through the centre of the Quins defence but was illegally stopped short of the line, and Park kicked the penalty to 5 metres. The lineout was won and the pack were unstoppable as they crossed the tryline, and hooker Calum Harris was credited with the score. Fatoma added the extras to take the score to 0-12 after 13 minutes.
Park claimed the restart but put a foot into touch. After the lineout Park won turnover ball and a penalty, but their lineout was not straight. Quins spread the ball wide from their lineout with Sayer and Whitwell in particular showing good hands, and scrum-half Davies snipped for the line but was tackled short off the line. However, he had been illegally stopped and Park number 8 Cook was shown a yellow card.
Harlequins opted for a scrum on the Combe 22 rather than kick the penalty to touch. Davies made a break from the base of the scrum and found Hughes with his pass. The substitute still had plenty of work to do, but stepped inside his marker and then outside to cross the whitewash in the corner. There was a delay in bringing the kicking tee on to pitch, and with time running out, Ross Cooke hurriedly put his conversion wide. Nevertheless, it was now 5-12 with 22 minutes on the clock.
Park then knocked on in midfield but from the scrum, Davies kicked straight into touch to give Park a lineout, which was a mess. After Combe lock Chawder knocked on, Quins tried to go wide, but again were tackled into touch by good defence from Park.
Park attacked from their lineout but the kick from Hartley went dead so play was brought back for a lineout on the Harlequins 10 metre line.
Fatoma kicked from a Westcombe Park scrum but Quins managed to gather and clear back up to just inside the Park half. Chawder again won the lineout, from which Davies fed Gay to scythe through the home defence into the Quins 22. Quins managed to prevent a try, but were penalised, and Park kicked to 5 metres, from where Cook, back on the pitch, was credited with the try as his pack crashed over the tryline. Fatoma added the extras to make it 5-19 after 32 minutes.
From the restart, Devine broke past several flimsy tackles to reach the halfway lines, and although Quins won turnover ball, they yielded possession and Park fly-hacked into the Quins 22. With the tryline at his mercy, Smith’s kick ahead was poor and went into touch 5 metres in front of the tryline.
Harlequins won their lineout and put the ball through the hands of their backs but failed to get out of their 22. Park had a penalty advantage for not rolling away in the tackle but knocked on. However, they kicked to the penalty to 5 metres.
The lineout was won and the rolling maul sucked in the Harlequins defence, leaving Cook with a simply pass for Tom Smith to cross in the corner for the bonus point try. Again, the conversion from Fatoma slid past the far upright, leaving the score 5-24 with 38 minutes played.
Westcombe Park prop Elliot Roofe then broke through more weak tackling from Quins from the restart, and when Combe kicked downfield, Quins fly-half Cooke needed to put the ball into touch 10 metres from his line before four Park attackers could get to the ball first.
Park won their lineout ball and after a number of drives for the line were repelled, Roofe found space to score close to the posts, and Fatoma added the easy conversion as the score moved to 5-31 with 40 minutes on the clock.
The referee was playing added on time, and Quins won a penalty which they were able to kick to within 15 yards of the Westcombe Park line. Although McNally won the lineout, Park were able to win turnover ball, which they kicked away, and Quins ran back at them and forced another penalty, which they kicked to 5 metres.
Quins won their lineout ball, and with three of their backs joining the rolling maul, they powered over the Park tryline for their second try, with flanker Johnny Ireland getting the credit for the score, but again Cooke was wide with the conversion as it was caught in the wind. At half-time it was 10-31.
In an effort to get back in the match, Harlequins made two changes to their front row for the second half. Although Devine caught the restart for Park, the visitors knocked on as they attempted to play with the ball, and were then pinged for offside when Quins won possession back. Quins kicked to 5 metres and had several drives for the line after securing their lineout ball. Although scrum-half Davies was tackled just short of the line, Quins were able to re-gather and substitute Bicknell was able to score. Cooke was again wide from the tee so the score had moved to 15-31 after 42 minutes.
Fatoma kicked the restart straight out of play for a scrum to Quins on halfway. Quins showed good hands from the scrum but a kick ahead from close to the touchline was claimed with a mark, but Park failed to find touch.
Quins looked to capitalise but a wayward kick was claimed by Cook for Westcombe Park, who fed his backs, and after Thompson beat two men out wide, the inside pass gave Gay a run to the corner. The conversion was again missed, but after Harlequins were looking to close the gap, it was now 15-36 with 46 minutes played.
Cook dropped the restart to give Harlequins a scrum just outside the Park 22 metre line but Quins scrum-half Davies was wrestled into touch for a Combe lineout. Cook won the lineout and Park scrum-half Davies made a break, but this time the Quins defence was good and they won a penalty. Unfortunately for them, they failed to find touch and the kick went dead to give Westcombe Park a scrum on the Harlequins 10 metre line.
Quins were pinged for offside, and when Davies attempted a quick tap he was tackled by a Quins player who wasn’t 10 metres away, and a bout of handbags ensued. When calm was restored, the referee reversed the penalty, which Quins strangely opted to go for a scrum on their 10 metre line rather than attempt to kick to touch. Quins full-back Whitwell made a run and was illegally stopped for another penalty, which this time Quins decided to kick, and they made ground to just past the Park 10 metre line.
McNally again won the lineout for Quins and number 8 Alex Knight burst through up to the Westcombe Park 22 metre line, but as Quins pressed, a knock-on in the tackle allowed Park to clear to touch.
With 58 minutes played, Harlequins won another penalty but again the kick was misjudged with the wind and went dead. Park spread play wide from the scrum but knocked on again to give Quins a scrum, but when Quins went down the blindside, Seddon ran down the touchline to the Park 22 but the pass inside in search of support went forward and for good measure was knocked on.
Park ran from the base of their scrum but replacement fly-half Fryatt knocked on, and when Quins recycled possession, centre Toby Haines was put clear to run unopposed to the tryline to give Harlequins the try bonus point. Cooke was this time finally successful from the tee, and the score moved to 22-36 with 18 minutes remaining.
Quins now had belief in getting something from the game, and from another penalty, this time at the scrum, a quick tap was spread wide, but Seddon was unable to cling on to the pass with a clear run down the touchline beckoning.
Park again ran the ball from their scrum and entered the Harlequins 22, but the home defence was good. However, Park eventually won a penalty when it looked like Quins were about to win turnover ball. Park kicked to 5 metres but their rolling maul was stopped and Quins were awarded a penalty.
McNally again was the winner of the Quins lineout but Park flanker Khalil stole possession at the ruck, and with good hands amongst the Park forwards, they created a 3 on 1 overlap, and a long floated pass was deliberately knocked on by Quins winger Hughes to stop a certain score, and the referee awarded a penalty try and showed a yellow card to Hughes. The score was now 22-43 after 69 minutes.
A great break by Quins’ Haines took play into Park’s 22 and when it looked like Pigott was heading over the tryline a superb tap tackle brought him down. It still looked like Quins would score, but the supporting player knocked on in the process of diving over the line to score.
Westcombe Park had the scrum 5 metres from their line and Quins interestingly decided to play without a scrum-half at the put in. Cook picked up from the base of the scrum and ran to his 22, and his supporting players took play up to the halfway line before being tackled into touch.
Harlequins continued to press for a consolation try, and won a succession of penalties but Park twice won Harlequins lineouts. Finally, the referee’s patience ran out and giant Combe forward Mundicha saw yellow, but Harlequins were unable to capitalise.
The final play of the game saw Westcombe Park again win a Oxford Harlequins 5 metre lineout, but they knocked on when trying to gather the loose ball. However, the referee deemed time was up and blew for the final whistle.
Westcombe Park would have been pleased with a bonus point victory, but they had plenty to work on, especially in reducing their penalty count. Oxford Harlequins were again involved in a high scoring game, and at least walked away with one bonus point, but need to cut out the missed tackles and improve their kicking, both out of hand and from the tee.
Link To Online Programme : https://issuu.com/oxfordquins/docs/oxford_quins_programme_6th_september
