OXFORD University went down to a 34-31 defeat in their friendly at Bristol United last night.

But having trailed 19-0 midway through the first period, the Dark Blues showed great character to get so close to an unlikely victory.

Winger George Watkins gave Bristol the lead when he touched down inside six minutes.

Ellis Genge crashed over from close range to put the home side further ahead, Callum Sheedy converting.

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When James Stephenson’s five-metre converted effort put the hosts 19-0 up, it was one-way traffic.

But Oxford found a route back into the game when Tom Reeson-Price showed brute strength to stretch his way over for a try which was converted by George Cullen.

After Graeme MacGilchrist was yellow carded for the visitors, Jermaine Jones squeezed over in the corner for an unconverted Bristol try to make it 26-7 before half-time.

Oxford hit back once again early in the second period when Reeson-Price crossed for a converted try.

Jones found space to fly over for his second, before Josh Ovens was sin-binned to reduce Bristol to 14 men.

Referee Darren Gamage awarded a penalty try to Oxford University to close the gap to 31-21 as the visitors continued to stage a comeback.

And MacGilchrist made amends for his earlier sin-bin, rounding off a superb counter attack for an unconverted try.

Callum Sheedy’s penalty extended Bristol’s lead, and although Kit Goodfellow went over for Oxford’s fifth try of the night, they fell just short of completing a superb comeback.

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