Steve Hill hailed Oxford’s University’s 32-24 victory over a talented Saracens side as their best display of the season.

But the Dark Blues’ director of rugby warned his players that competition was about to get tougher with only four matches remaining before they face Cambridge at Twickenham on December 11.

Oxford’s defeat of Saracens was well received by a large crowd, as well as the coaching staff.

Hill said: “I thought that was our best overall performance because they were the toughest team we have played.

“Six of that squad were senior players.

“I was very pleased with our defence, which led to some good turnovers in the first half.

“We managed to keep it going in the second half as well.”

Next up are Bristol at home on Monday when Oxford’s intensity should be even higher.

“We made ten changes in the second half on Monday and knew that was going to disrupt things,” said Hill.

“Next week we won’t be doing that.

“We know already that Bristol will be bringing over a strong side.

“They have named ten players who have featured for the first team this season, as they haven’t got a match for a while.

“We are going to reduce the training squad to about 24 players. So we will be going out against Bristol with what we perceive is our strongest 15.”

Saracens were clearly disappointed to lose on Monday, with academy manager Mike Hynard commenting: “The players and coaches are gutted about the first-half performance.”

Hill said: “I was really impressed with our two young wingers, Sean Morris and Will Browne, “Sean got two tries, but Will was just as good. He was fearless.

“Alex Cheeseman did well at seven and 13 in the second half. They are all good, young undergraduates.

“We are playing with ambition.

“Unfortunately our precision let us down in a couple of phases, but the good news is that we are creating the opportunities.

“We said at half-time Saracens would come back at us, and they did.

“We then showed great patience to score in the bottom corner near the end.

“It wasn’t perfect, but we showed a lot of grit and determination.

“It is also pleasing that they less than half the points they did aagainst Cambridge.

“We had to grind out a win in the last 20 minutes, which was good for us.”