LONDON IRISH 21, OXFORD UNIVERSITY 13: Oxford suffered the second defeat of the domestic season when they let slip an early 13-point lead against a strong London Irish second string at Sunbury last night.

Such was the dominance of the Dark Blues pack in the set scrums that the students seemed set for a handsome victory after scoring two tries in the first ten minutes.

The first came when Oxford wheeled the Irish scrum and outstanding flanker Ben Durham forced his way over in the right corner.

The power of the Blues eight was apparent again few minutes later, when the ball shot out of the back of the Irish scrum, putting former South African scrum-half Hentie Martens in all sorts of trouble.

Oxford snaffled the ball and prop Kevin Tkachuk powered his way through some half-hearted tackling to the try line.

Another try seemed certain when Durham broke clear, but his pass to skipper Fraser Gemmell begging.

Oxford increased their lead when the Irish were penalised for an illegal tackle on Oxford fly half Matt Honeyben, who had to leave the field after receiving a bang in the face. His replacement Nick Edwards landed the simple penalty.

Five minutes before half-time, the home side pulled back five points when Martens went over for a close-range try from a line-out.

That did not seem to matter as Oxford, with Charlie Edwards to the fore in the line-out, pounded the Irish line for the first 15 minutes of the second half. However, crucially, they came away from that spell without adding to their tally.

Thus reprieved, the Irish rallied as Oxford brought on replacements and began to suffer in the line-out.

Former England fly half Mark Mapletoft made the Irish's second try with a long pass to right wing Rob Hoadley, who eluded Will Ellerby to score.

Mapletoft converted to make it 13-12 and then punished Dark Blues' indiscipline by landing three penaltiy goals.

And so, much to their surprise, Irish eyes were smiling at the end!

London Irish: Armitage, Hoadley, Burrows, Cannon, Ejikeme, Mapletoft, Martens (Brennan 40), Wheatley, Flavin, Critchley, Kennedy, Parke, Acton, Blurton (Peckitt 68), Hoad.

Oxford Univ: Rubie, Dixon, Allen, Willett, Ellerby, Honeyben (N Edwards 28), Taberner (Wood 61), Tkachuk, Griffiths, Hughes (Halsey 35), Russell (Sullivan 53), C Edwards, Gemmell, Durham, Lubans.