A broken hand suffered by captain Kevin Brennan took some of the shine off Oxford University's entertaining 34-26 victory over London Welsh at Iffley Road on Monday nigh.

Brennan, who had to leave the field just after the half-hour mark, said later: "It's not too bad. I will only be out for four weeks. I'm keeing my head up."

The students were trailing 12-7 at the break, but inspired by two tries from Joe Roff, hit a purple patch in the second half.

The Dark Blues took the lead on 14 minutes when hooker Dan Rosen's break created room for centre Roff to cross over on the right.

Fly half Craig McMahon converted, but the visitors equalised with a try by Peter Clarke, converted by fly half Lee Chalewa.

Centre James Storey put the Welsh ahead with a try, and the hosts were still struggling early in the second half when winger Tom Tombleson went over on 53 minutes.

Roff's second try came soon afterwards as he completed a pacy move begun by No 8 Marcel Du Toit.

McMahon converted this and a quickfire effort from replacement Dan Palm, before making it 29-12 with a penalty.

Welsh bagged a 68th-minute penalty try after Oxford collapsed a maul just short of the line and Chalewa converted.

A textbook catch and drive created a fifth Dark Blue try for Abbott, but a breakaway score from Greenwood, converted by Chalewa, denied the hosts any breathing space at the end.