NEC Harlequins booked their place in the quarterfinals of the Powergen National Trophy thanks to a 48-0 victory over Bridgwater & Albion at Bath Road. Two tries from Ugo Monye helped the visitors race into a 29-0 lead at half-time, before Quins added three further scores to their tally after the break. The National League Division Three South side never gave up, but their cause was not helped when hooker Matt Hastie was sent off just before the break.
Quins controlled proceedings from the kick-off, but had to wait until the ninth minute before opening the scoring. Tosh Masson finished off a move created by a break from Jordan Turner-Hall and capitalised on an overlap created down the right flank. Andrew Mehrtens added the conversion to put Quins seven points in front.
Four minutes later and Luke Sherriff doubled the visitors lead. Pablo Bouza powered into the home sides twenty-two from a lineout and with quick ball materialising, Sherriff eased his way through the defence to touchdown by the posts. Mehrtens made no mistake in adding the two extra points on offer.
Just before the end of the first quarter and Quins claimed their third try of the half. Masson made the initial break deep into Bridgwater & Albion's twenty-two, with the move resulting in Nick Easter touching down in the right hand corner, presenting Mehrtens with a difficult conversion that went wide of the target.
Hastie received his first yellow card for killing the ball on 24 minutes and two minutes later, Monye scored his first try. From a scrum five metres from the home sides try line, Easter broke from the set-piece and fed Ian Vass, who gave Monye the scoring pass with the winger touching down in the corner. Depsite Mehrtens failing to add the conversion, Quins had extended their lead to 24 points.
With the game in first half injury time, a second professional foul from Hastie meant he received his marching orders from referee Dale Newitt and from the resulting penalty, Monye went over for his second and Quins fourth try of the afternoon. Another conversion miss from Mehrtens made the half-time score 29-0 to the visitors.
Four minutes after the restart and Quins were troubling the scoreboard once again. Adrian Jarvis inside pass to Simon Keogh allowed the winger to power his was deep into the opposition's territory, where Tom Williams was in support to race over for the try. Jarvis's conversion attempt came back off the post and some dogged defence from the home side prevented Quins from adding to their tally again until 12 minutes from the end.
Kevin Burke was driven over for the five points from a lineout close to the Bridgwater & Albion line and with eight minutes remaining, Vass finished off an excellent break from Williams to score Quins final try of the afternoon. Jarvis converted both touchdowns to complete the scoring in the match.
Final score, 0-48.