Oxford Harlequins dented Grove's Southern Counties North promotion hopes with a hard-fought 10-6 victory at Horspath Road.

The result virtually ended Grove's chances of finishing second and so securing promotion via a play-off, and should have ended any Quins worries about relegation.

Action from Saturday's clashGrove took the lead with a penalty from fly half Ben Dean, but even at this early stage, their big scrum was creaking with Quins' loose head prop, Paul Molyneux, giving his opposite number a torrid time

The home side went ahead 5-3 at the break after scrum half Anthony Cope broke blind from a five-metre scrummage, sold a dummy and scooted over for a superb try.

At the start of the second half, Quins applied immense pressure and were rewarded after a series of five-metre scrums and penalties.

Alex Tang, who had come in for the injured Anthony Cope, drove for the line and when stopped short, No 8 Paul Nye was in support to drive over for a try, putting Quins 10-3 up with 30 minutes to play.

Grove hit back by trying to run the ball. But the Quins tackling was immense - none better than centre Jamie Cope.

For all their pressure, Grove had to settle for three points from another Dean penalty, and the game ended with Quins camped in the visitors' 22.