BASSETT bailed out at the first hurdle of the Powergen Intermediate Cup losing to the early South West Two East leaders.
Oxford started well scoring two early tries after mesmerising the Bassett defence with their pace, strength and running from depth.
A noticeable weakness was their scrumaging, with Bassett's pack pushing them back and taking a number of scrums against the head. But they had problems keeping possession, kicking away good ball.
Bassett scored a penalty through fly-half Sean Millwaters, but Oxford replied with two further tries to leave the half time score at 26-3.
The home side made a number of changes for the second half and played it with more structure and spirit, without yielding further tries.
Noticeable performances came from scrum-half Mike Weeks and the versatile Sean Wiltshire.
Assistant coach Glyn Parker said: "Oxford Harlequins played the rugby that we aspire too, keeping the ball alive with players running on to the ball with pace and from depth. However, I was very impressed by our second half performance."
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