OXFORDSHIRE Cup final man-of-the-match Anthony Cope paid tribute to teammate Ben Cottenden after he shone in the 19-12 victory over Witney.

Oxford Harlequins scrum half Cope scored their only try in Sunday's clash and provided most of their creative spark.

Cottenden was successful with five out of six kicks at Iffley Road and Cope says he has benefitted greatly since the fly half has been a regular for Quins.

Cope, 26, said: "The team selection has been much more consistent over the last few months.

"I was playing fly half, full back or wing before that because we were really struggling for players.

"Now we seem to have people in the right places like Ben.

"He was awesome on Sunday, although he was very nervous beforehand.

"He has made a big difference to us with his kicking.

"Having him in the side has allowed me to play consistently at scrum half, which I like.

"It's my best position. I like to run with the ball and play expansive rugby unfortunately we didn't show a lot of that against Witney."

Cope's classy 49th-minute try saw him carve open the Witney defence and proved crucial to Quins' victory, but he remained modest about it.

"I'm not sure exactly what happened," he said.

"I beat a couple of men and made it over the line.

"It was a long way for my little legs to run and to be honest I was looking around for someone to pass to."

As for the match itself, he added: "We definitely didn't play well, but I think that's a lot to do with Witney's per- formance.

"I haven't seen them before this season, but they played out of their skins.

"They gave us a much tougher game than we expected.

"It was close all the way through, which was a good thing from the spectators' point of view."