Joe Roff's Varsity Match debut ended in disappointment when his Oxford side lost 15-6 to Cambridge at Twickenham.

The former Wallabies star was kept quiet as a last-minute try from Cambridge's New Zealand-born captain John Blaikie sealed victory for the Light Blues.

It was their 59th triumph in 125 Varsity Matches and came on the back of last year's 31-16 victory.

Oxford has won 52 and there have been 14 draws.

Roff, a 31-year-old veteran of 86 tests who scored 30 tries for Australia, retired from international rugby two years ago and is studying politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford's Harris Manchester College.

After a scrappy start to what turned out to be a scrappy game, a melee broke out in the 10th minute, resulting in the sin-binning of Oxford's South African lock, Dylan Alexander, and Cambridge No.8 Edward Andrews.

They were only the second and third players in the history of Varsity clashes to be sent off after Cambridge's South African prop Rudi Bosch was punished for taking out an Oxford player in mid-air during a line-out last year.

Cambridge went 5-0 up in the 17th minute thanks to a penalty try and Jon Ufton's first straight kick from three attempts sealed the conversion to make it 7-0.

Oxford finally registered in the scoring in the 25th minute when Craig McMahon - Roff's countryman and fellow former pupil of Canberra's Marist College - slotted home a penalty.

They closed the gap to just one point with eight minutes remaining in the first half when McMahon completed an easy penalty kick.

But Cambridge, which had dominated the set pieces, hit back just seconds before the break when David Tibbott's successful penalty kick put them ahead 10-6.

Tibbott could have extended the Light Blues' lead eight minutes after the re-start, but he pulled his penalty kick to the left.

Ufton then missed a good chance for a drop goal and was replaced by Rhys Evans.

Cambridge appeared to be tiring but continued to fight, taking their nine-point advantage when Blaikie inched over the line with seconds to spare.

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