ROSS Chisholm ramped up the pressure on England full-back Mike Brown with a fine performance for Harlequins in the J.P.Morgan Premiership 7s.

Quins may have crashed out of the competition ahead of August's finals, but Chisholm's displays were the bright point of a disappointing night for the host side on Friday night.

The 21-year-old scored the very first try of the tournament as he left London Irish flyer Topsy Ojo for dead to help Quins past the Exiles 21-14 in the opening game.

But a 33-0 defeat to Saracens in their following match led to Quins missing out on the finals at Bath, despite seeing off Wasps 35-0 in a dead rubber, with sevens specialist Miles Mantella picking up two tries.

Chisholm said: “Every time you go out on the field you’re trying to prove yourself, and trying to show Conor O’Shea and the coaches what you can do.

“They’ve said to me if I play well in things like this when you represent Quins, then it can only help my cause to get in to the first team.

“It is disappointing to go out because every team here will say the same thing, they want to win silverware, and that means this tournament – but we won’t view this as a disaster.”

Chisholm now hopes he can take the experience into next season, as he challenges Brown for a first team spot at The Stoop.

He added: “We’re out now but that’s something I can take into the 15-a-side season. It’s a little bit of a shock, more to the lungs than anything, when you first start playing sevens again, but it feels good to shake it all off.

“It was nice to get the first try of the tournament. Seb Stegmann did a little break, and I’d been working all week on trailing runners, as if you follow those runners you might score tries, and luckily I got on the end of it.”

To buy tickets for the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7s Series, visit: www.jpmorgan7s.com or call 08448 472 492