National 3 South West

A FINAL flourish could not prevent Oxford Harlequins from slipping to a 22-15 home defeat to Amersham & Chiltern.

Quins fought back from 22-10 down, with replacement prop Pete Boulton’s 73rd-minute try earning them a losing bonus point.

But the hosts felt flanker Toby Baker had a perfectly good try disallowed in the final minute, which would have given them the chance to draw the game.

As it was, Quins’ 11th defeat in 12 matches leaves them in a dire position.

Fly half David Hughes kicked Amersham ahead with a penalty on four minutes.

Then, a quick penalty saw left wing Hilton Mudariki go over for the visitors, Hughes converting.

Quins had prop Chris Davies yellow-carded on 31 minutes and trailed 10-0 at the break.

Flanker Siesoni Tupon came on for his Quins debut, and on 45 minutes, prop Epi Kalemani drove over, with fly half Will Hilton converting.

Hilton levelled with a penalty, but Quins conceded soft tries in two minutes to right wing Tim Lloyde and hooker Tom Blackburn, the latter converted by Hughes.

Boulton’s stretching finish gave Quins hope and Amersham had flanker Perez Jack sin-binned.

The hosts’ frustration was summed up by Baker’s non try, which was ruled out despite his protests.