GROVE forward Steve Dixey is on the road to recovery after suffering a worrying injury against Oxford Harlequins at Marston Ferry Road.

The prop ripped muscles in his back just five minutes into the second half and was due to see a specialist about a suspected fracture to a vertebra.

Dixey was taken to hospital on Saturday, but was discharged later that day.

With light fading and 35 minutes still to play in the South West 1 East encounter, referee Nathan Howarth called a halt to proceedings with Grove leading 11-8.

As less than 60 minutes of the game had been played, the match will be rescheduled.

It had been a close tussle before Dixey’s injury.

Despite Sam Watkinson’s early penalty, Grove opened up an 11-3 lead, thanks to Luke Matthews’s try and two Sam Vaughan penalties.

Quins’ Adam Neal had earlier been sent off for an off-the-ball incident.

But centre Jack Robinson’s unconverted try had given the hosts some hope before the abandonment.

In Southern Counties North, Wallingford enjoyed a 22-5 win at Stow-on-the-Wold.

The south Oxfordshire side made the perfect start, with winger Ralph Smith crossing in the corner.

Stow started to come more into the game, but Wallingford held strong and the hosts soon had a man in the sin-bin. And the visitors then made the most of their advantage as James Wiltshire and Conner Murphy touched down.

Stow replied with a try before the break.

But Wallingford secured the bonus point in the second half when Ian Jeffreys dotted down.

Phil Dawes kicked one conversion.

Abingdon enjoyed only their second BB&O Premier win of the season in a 22-20 victory over Phoenix and Didcot triumphed 28-22 against Crowthorne.

Faringdon won 16-10 at Farnham Royal in the BB&O Championship.

LATEST TABLE

South West 1 East

P W D L F A Pts

O Patesians 10 9 0 1 279 145 42

Maidenhead 10 8 0 2 328 192 41

Newbury Blues 10 7 1 2 292 159 38

Wootton Bassett 10 7 0 3 262 146 33

O Centralians 10 5 1 4 255 226 27

Witney 10 5 0 5 208 171 26

Grove 9 5 0 4 200 216 26

Reading Ab 10 5 0 5 161 190 23

Banbury 10 4 0 6 205 250 21

Swindon 10 4 0 6 175 223 18

Oxford Hquins 9 3 0 6 118 224 14

Chippenham 10 2 0 8 187 309 14

Windsor 10 2 0 8 181 304 13

Reading 10 2 0 8 129 225 12

Southern Counties North

P W D L F A Pts

Bicester 8 7 0 1 276 111 32

Marlow 8 6 0 2 288 105 31

Beaconsfield 8 5 0 3 261 132 26

Buckingham 8 5 0 3 266 155 26

Thatcham 8 5 0 3 215 180 26

Wallingford 8 5 0 3 154 104 25

Aylesbury 8 5 0 3 160 133 24

High Wycombe 8 3 0 5 166 188 18

Stow-on-Wold 8 2 1 5 160 259 14

Milton Keynes 8 2 0 6 108 267 11

Bletchley 8 1 1 6 92 347 6

Gosford AB 8 1 0 7 107 272 2