Rugby round-up: Harlequins run riot as Windsor suffer heavy home defeat

Windsor suffered their heaviest defeat of the season as Oxford Harlequins ran in 80 points against them at Home Park on Saturday.

The Royals home form had been a source of some pride during a difficult season but in recent weeks they simply haven’t found a way to compete against teams towards the top of the South West 1 East Division.

A few weeks ago, they were comfortably beaten 17-64 by fourth placed Newbury Blues and if head coach Neal Kennedy suspected it couldn’t get any worse, he was wrong as the Harlequins blitzed them 80-7 at the weekend.

The hosts must have known they'd have their work cut out to end their losing streak against the Harlequins, but this was much more one-sided than any of them would have expected.

It’s been a challenging season for the Royals both on and off the field, with the club losing its head coach Jack Pattinson due to competing work commitments at London Irish.

The result leaves them 11th in the table on 28 points ahead of what on paper looks a more winnable fixture at Sherborne on Saturday. Sherborne sit just a point above Windsor in the table, but the position is slightly false as the team have been docked 25 points this campaign. They were beaten 20-5 by Trowbridge at the weekend but edged a close game with Witney 10-5 the week before.

W Marlow have slipped to sixth in the Southern Counties North table after a disappointing 22-32 home defeat by Shipston-on-Stour.

Rory Greenslade-Jones’ side had hoped to bounce back from their 27-3 defeat at Reading the previous week but instead saw their encouraging home form checked by this surprise result. To add insult to injury, the visitors leapt above them in the table to fifth off the back of the result.

Marlow still have a game in hand on most of the sides above them in the table but the gap to fourth placed High Wycombe is now an unassailable looking 13 points.

On Saturday they’ll look to respond at ninth placed Wallingford who also come into the game off the back of a defeat, a 46-7 loss at leaders Stow-on-the-Wold.

W Slough’s form continues to improve as they won for the second game in a row in the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Premier Division.

The Greenies beat second from bottom Wheatley 27-22 at home to back up their encouraging 32-12 win over Aldermaston.

It leaves them seventh in the table ahead of Saturday's trip to third placed Tadley.