Adam White notched a hat-trick of tries for Oxford Cavaliers but it proved in vain as they went down 48-24 at Bristol Sonics in the TotalRL.com Conference South West and Midlands League.

White put Cavaliers ahead with an early try, but the home side hit back to ease into an 8-4 lead.

Cavaliers continued to threaten through Rob Kenny, playing at full back in place of the absent Greg Cushing, until he went off injured in the tenth minute.

With the visitors still trying to reorganise, Bristol took advantage and their fast- flowing game on the hot, dry ground saw them race into a 20-4 lead.

Oxford, with good tackling from new boys Ed Devine and American signing Dan Helmer, kept battling.

And cutting runs from forwards Tony Smallman, Mark Shaw and Chris Blackstone pushed Sonics back, and Darrel Rush set up a great try for Ken Grant.

However, Sonics also added to their tally and at half-time, they led 34-8.

With Cavaliers' new signings starting to gel, the visitors improved in the second half despite a stunning display from Bristol centre Johan Schoeman, who set up three tries and scored one himself.

Oxford's renewed vigour resulted in a great team try, with Paul Parlett terrorising the Bristol defence before releasing White to finish with aplomb.

The two sides exchanged tries with Parlett crossing the Bristol line, before White, who was also successful with four conversions, completed his hat-trick.

Cavaliers captain Mark Lester said: "That was a tough game, but we came back in the second half and gave an excellent account of ourselves."