First-year winger Shaun Stafford thrust himself into the reckoning for next season's Varsity Match side at Iffley Road last night.

Stafford scored the clinching try and put in a superb all-round display as Oxford University kicked off the second term with a 32-22 win over a powerful RAF outfit.

The Dark Blues struggled in the set-pieces, but moments of inspiration from Stafford and Blues Will Ellerby and Dan Taberner gave them victory.

Taberner scored two brilliant individual tries and Ellerby another, but the students still trailed 22-17 with ten minutes to go.

However, a penalty from Soushi Fuchigami, who also slotted two conversions, and tries from Will Rubie and Stafford saw them home in a thrilling finale.