Will Tuffley starred on his debut as Oxford Harlequins pulled off an impressive 31-18 victory in their South West 1 trip to St Ives.

The 20-year-old Australian full back scored 21 points in a fine display.

St Ives opened the scoring after four minutes with a Grant Thirlby penalty.

But Quins hit back a minute later when Tuffley intercepted on the home ten-metre line and raced in under the posts for a superb opportunist try.

Tuffley's conversion made it 7-3 and he stretched the lead with a penalty.

Thirlby slotted a penalty after 16 minutes before Quins prop Simon Chadbone saw two bullocking runs stopped short.

St Ives took the lead on 37 minutes with a try and conversion from Thirlby, but Tuffley's finely-judged penalty made it 13-3 on the stroke of half-time.

Fly-half and captain Owen Gustafson dummied his way through a gap to feed Pete Davis who changed direction and gave Andy Noyce a pass to finish under the posts on 76 minutes.

Tuffley converted for 26-13 before replacement Elio Recchia rounded the full back to score try No 3 after good work from flanker Jamie Cope.

St Ives winger Luke Trescothick squeezed over in the 84th minute.