Oxford Harlequins coach John Brodley was left with mixed feelings after the Cleve defeat.

He said: “We are not down-hearted. It is more disappointment and frustration than anything else. It was one of those 50/50 games and they edged it.

“The result was disappointing, but I thought the defensive performance was really good. It didn’t deserve 30 points against us.

“We showed a lot of character with our goal-line defence to keep them out for long periods of the second half.

“Then Anthony Cope scored an individual try and we got ourselves back in it.

“Unfortunately, we struggled to turn over their ball, although we defended well against their pick and drive.

“We really didn’t get much field position, and played a lot of the game in our own half.

“I thought we started the game really brightly, and it was a nice try by Huw Jones.

“They had their noses in front in the second half and didn’t have to be that creative.

“On a surface like that some of our better runners struggled to change direction.

“If we asserted ourselves, we felt this was a game we could have won.”