On a heavy pitch, reminiscent of 'no man's land' during the First World War, Grove fought out their own battle and drew 20-20 away to fellow promotion contenders Beaconsfield.

The result leaves the fight for second place behind Windsor still in the melting pot, with Grove, Beaconsfield and Swindon all in with a chance of competing in the promotion play-offs.

Grove started strongly, with flanker Mattie Young setting up centre Paul Cuddon for a try under the posts, converted by captain Dean Hammett.

Then Grove went to sleep as Beaconsfield scored two converted tries in two minutes. With both sides adding a penalty, the home side led 17-10 at the interval.

From the restart, Beaconsfield were awarded an early penalty, which they kicked.

Grove then started the fightback, and a quick penalty saw Hammett weave his way through for a try.

The visitors, camped on the home side's five-metre line, were awarded six penalties in a row as the Beaconsfield players continually went off-side.

As it became obvious that no penalty try would be awarded, Grove moved the ball wide and winger Chaz Boshell went over in the corner. Hammett failed to convert the kick, which left the scores tied.

With an expected ten minutes of extra time to play, Grove were keen to snatch the victory. However, the referee blew the final whistle straight after the restart.

Oxford Harlequins' scrum half Nick Walker was taken by air ambulance to hospital after breaking a leg during their 44-3 thrashing by Drifters.

Walker suffered the injury in the 55th minute on a miserable day for Quins, who also lost prop Paul Molyneux and second row Mark Collard with deep cuts.

On a pitch that resembled a bog, Quins, showing seven changes from last week's side, were 28-3 down at half-time, Chris Penney kicking a penalty. In the second half, hosts Drifters added a further 16 points.