Oxfordshire face an uphill task to reach the knockout stages of the National Under 20 Championship after losing 23-21 to Dorset & Wilts at Henley.

The narrow defeat means Oxon must beat Berkshire by at least 11 points in their final South West Region A match – and hope Dorset lose to basement boys Buckinghamshire.

Oxfordshire started well, with hooker Ed Church (Henley) diving over on three minutes, but Dorset hit back with a ninth-minute penalty from fly half Luke Flower.

Flower’s grubber kick allowed centre Freddie Strange to score, with Flower converting for 10-5.

Oxon skipper Alex Stevenson (Rugby Lions) slotted a penalty, but they had lock Richard Russell (Oxford University) sin-binned.

Dorset wing Liam Long scored their second try and Flower converting.

The visitors had a man sin-binned early in the second half, but Flower added another penalty.

Oxon replied with a try from full back Adam Lubbock (Henley), converted by Stevenson.

Stevenson added two penalties to make it 21-20, but pulled a third wide.

On 73 minutes, Flower struck the winning penalty.

  • HARRY Guinness kicked 14 points as Oxford University Greyhounds defeated Cambridge University LX Club 19-8 in their second team Varsity Match at Grange Road – an eighth successive victory.

The fly half converted the opening try from right wing Sam Beer and added two penalties in each half.

Cambridge fly half Mat Thomas had made it 13-3 with a penalty and wing Tom Roberts grabbed a late try.

  • OXFORD University centre Alex Cheesman played the full 80 minutes as England Students were pipped 29-25 by the Portuguese national side in Lisbon.

JUNIOR SCORERS

Oxfordshire Under 15 League: Oxford Harlequins 31 (tries B Chen 2, B Groves, B Lee; pen D Todd; cons D Todd 4), Bicester 14.

Oxfordshire Under 13 Cup semi-final: Banbury 36 (tries A Taylor 3, T Johnson, J Anderson, A Bruce; cons J Briggs 2, Bruce), Chinnor 12.

Under 13: Banbury B 14 (tries J Hughes 2; cons L Catania), Chinnor B 15.