Rusty Australia leave it late

Never mind places at Twickenham for the Varsity Match being up for grabs, Oxford's young bucks had their sights on a place in history yesterday.

Iffley Road is steeped in the stuff, what with Sir Roger Bannister and Oxford's rich rugby past, and with 10 minutes left in Australia's supposedly routine run-out the class of 2001 looked like adding an outrageous new chapter.

Oxford scrum half Dan Taberner bolted in from 60 metres for their third try and the conversion left them a mere four points behind the world champions, Tri-Nations holders, keepers of the Bledisloe Cup and slayers of the Lions.

It might have been the Wallabies' second string, but in the end they had the might of George Smith, Owen Finnegan, Justin Harrison and Nathan Grey on the field before three late tries finally put down the student uprising. There were Twickenham places up for grabs for the Wallabies as well, with England next up on Saturday. The likes of Ben Tune, Chris Latham, Matt Cockbain and Tom Bowman are seasoned internationals and all are pushing hard for promotion. But none could make much of an impression against an Oxford side playing like men possessed in front of a capacity 5,500 crowd. Wallabies coach Eddie Jones said: 'They've not had much footie lately and were very rusty but they will play significantly better next weekend.' The Wallabies' preparation has hardly been testing.Their first-choices have had run-outs against a non-Premiership XV and Spain while the fringe players have now had this. But Jones is confident they will be ready for Clive Woodward's England. 'We will see next Saturday how good our preparation has been.' For Oxford's Canadian prop Kevin Tkachuk, the game provided a welcome chance to face the Wallabies after the planned Vancouver Test between the two countries fell victim to the Canadian players' strike.

He made the most of his second chance, burrowing over for Oxford's second try after wing Will Rubie had sprinted 80 metres for another interception try.