Oxford Harlequins were pushed all the way by Witney who narrowly failed to pull off an upset in the Oxfordshire Cup, going out of the quarter finals 15-8 in North Hinksey.
Quins fly half Joey Todd struck the post with one early penalty, but popped over a second shortly after to give the hosts a 3-0 lead. They extended it on 18 minutes when lock Andy Boyle was pushed over for a try from a catch-and-drive.
But Witney struck back, fly half Pierre Dubost breaking from the away side's 22 before finding centre James Lamb in support. Lamb's pass found winger Dan Purkiss who beat the covering Quins defence to score a great breakout try.
But Dubost and winger Lewis Collins were both sent to the sin bin, and that allowed Quins to re-establish their dominance with a try for Tom Jelly that Todd converted. Despite being down to 13 men, Witney refused to buckle and Ed Mitcham struck a penalty to narrow the gap to seven points going into the interval.
Neither side was able to get on the scoresheet in a competitive second half, despite Quins being reduced to 14 when flanker Julian Watkins saw yellow with 20 minutes still to play.
