A neutral watching this one would have seen a hard-fought game where for most of the 80 minutes, the result could have gone either way.

In such matches, it can be easy to clutch at straws – if that ball had bounced the other way or that kick had crept over – but in this instance, the different between the two teams was clear. One learnt to play the ref whilst the other made the same disciplinary mistakes again and again and again.

Given that across the two teams there were around half a dozen players who have worn both shirts in their time, a match against OEs was always going to go one of two ways: a spirit of either fraternal cordiality or sibling rivalry.

And mid-week this looked like a game that Quins should do well in. A dry forecast and strong squad gave us every chance of coming away from SW20 with a W.

As we got closer to Saturday however, it became apparent that it wouldn’t quite be the conditions for running rugby that we wanted. Plus, the joys of Counties 4 rugby means that there were a couple of last-minute team changes exacerbated by unavoidable late arrivals for key players.

Nevertheless, we were full of confidence at the kick off. Coming off the back of the thrashing of Paulines and a rest week, we knew the game plan, we’d talked about what had gone well and were clear on the way to win.

OEs started strongly but solid Quins defence kept the home team to a single penalty. When Quins replied with their own 3-pointer, it was obvious that no team had clear dominance. An OEs’ try followed by an exchange of penalties left the half-time score 11-6.

The 15 minutes around the break was perhaps Quins’ best period of the game. Slowly, we asserted some scrum dominance, strung together some phases and had OEs on a yellow-card warning for repeated infringements. 11-11 was a fair reflection of the game to that point.

And then the wheels didn’t so much fall off as Quins decided to remove them ourselves.

Despite frequent warnings about high tackles, we were constantly above the sternum. Whether we agreed with the interpretation or not, the fact is that we weren’t adapting. A the OEs suddenly became a kicking demon. Three successful kicks in 10 minutes (and all from decent distances/angles) meant we were now chasing the game. Still just about in touch but needing a try to make OEs sweat.

We did see a try – but at the wrong end of the park. Five minutes to go and 25-11 down, our best hope was a losing bonus point which unfortunately we couldn’t manage.

So, what positives can we take from this game? Ever the optimist, I can see a few.

Firstly, the match report for the Paulines game made much of the squad’s team spirit. That was definitely on display again this week with everyone fighting to the 80th minute.

Secondly, we lost that game rather than being beaten. These weren’t system errors but rather execution. That’s something we can fix and fix quickly.

Most importantly, this game saw three debuts in the quarters. Welcome to the club, Ollie, Ben and Sid. Ben also opened his account with a wonderfully worked try in the corner. A thing of absolute beauty.

This season is proving to have something of everything. In three games, we’ve had a heavy loss, an easy victory and a slogfest. Our best approach therefore is to put this one behind us and move on to the next game against nos amis London French.