Oxford University 34, London Welsh 26

A SUSPECTED broken hand for captain Kevin Brennan took some gloss off an entertaining home performance that featured two tries from Joe Roff.

Brennan had to leave the field just after the half-hour mark and was due to be X-rayed late last night.

He said: "It's not too bad. Even if it is broken I will only be out for four weeks. I'm keeping my head up."

Oxford trailed 12-7 at the break, but hit a purple patch in the second half to secure victory against a physical London Welsh side.

The sizeable early-season crowd were treated to nine tries, five from the hosts, and many more supporters can be expected against London Wasps next Monday.

The Dark Blues took a while to get going and benefitted from Welsh passing up some kickable penalty chances.

But they took the lead on 14 minutes when hooker Dan Rosen's break created room for centre Roff to cross over on the right.

Fly half Craig McMahon converted, but the visitors still had more of the play and deservedly equalised on 22 minutes.

Relentless pressure created an overlap for flanker Peter Clarke to score on the right wing and fly half Lee Chalewa converted expertly.

Winger James Greenwood almost notched their second try on 29 minutes, but it was a temporary respite for Oxford as centre James Storey soon crossed after a powerful drive.

The hosts were still struggling early in the second half until winger Tom Tombleson showed his finishing ability on 53 minutes.

Flanker Doug Abbott made the initial break before the ball was switched right and Tombleson motored in.

Roff's second try came soon afterwards as he completed a pacey move begun by No 8 Marcel Du Toit.

McMahon converted this and a quickfire effort from replacement Dan Palm, before making it 29-12 with a penalty.

Welsh bagged a 68-minute penalty try after Oxford collapsed a maul just short of the line and Chalewa converted.

A textbook catch and drive created a fifth Dark Blue try for Abbott, but a breakaway score from Greenwood, converted by Chalewa, denied the hosts any breathing space at the end.

Oxford director of rugby Steve Hill said: "I thought we took a real step up in our attacking play.

"We finished a couple of nice tries and created some good oportunities.

"The area we need to work on was our defence in the last 15 minutes.

"The other thing that was pleasing was the way the scrum held up.

"I thought Ollie Tomaszczyk, Dan Rosen and Richard Matthews did really well against tough opposition in the front row."

Oxford University: Jacobs, Squires (Mahony 51), Roff, Humphry-Baker (Catling 32), Tombleson, McMahon, Brennan (capt) (Jenkins 32), Tomaszczyk, Rosen, Matthews, Chance (Alexander 67), Graham, Jones (Palm 59), Abbott, Du Toit (Bucknall 59).

Oxford man-of-the-match: Tomaszczyk.