John Brodley feels he can look back on his first year as Oxford Harlequins director of rugby with great pride.

Brodley replaced Matt Maudsley last October and took charge of Quins for the first time in their 34-14 home victory over Chippenham.

That was Quins’ first victory of the season, and although they improved, they were still only spared relegation by a league re-structure.

Speaking after beating Chinnor on Saturday, Brodley (pictured)said: “A year ago today was my first win.

“As a club, we have come a long way.

“We have now had four straight wins and won six out of seven.

“That is something the club has not done before at this level.”

Having risen from bottom after two matches to third in the table, does Brodley reckon they can now stay there?

“I’m not going to put any pressure on the players in terms of a final position,” he said.

“It is possibly one of the differences between us and Chinnor.

“We set out our stall to stay in the league and Chinnor were saying they wanted to get promoted back again.

“There is an awful lot of pressure on the players if it doesn’t happen.

“We will stick with this squad of players and see where we finish.

“But we still have got to get stronger up front.”