At a windswept Murrayfield, Gael Force blew into action and defeated Oxford University 27-21 in a warm-up match and head coach Stephen Gemmell believes the result gives the new-look team a sound starting platform ahead of the British and Irish Cup.

Despite going behind 3-0 inside the opening 10 minutes, Gael Force responded through tries from Andrew Easson, Stuart McInally and Andrew Turnbull with David Blair notching two conversions.

The Dark Blues staged a second half comeback before a Steve Jones penalty and Chris Kinloch try ensured Scottish Rugby’s newest team got off to a flying start.

Afterwards, Gemmell praised the performance of Gael Force’s opposition, Oxford University and credited his own players with a spirited display.

Gemmell said: “The intensity at the breakdown was harder than perhaps the players thought it was going to be – credit to Oxford University for that.

“Oxford University are a decent side and it took our players some time to get into the game. Then we played some good rugby and we were 17-8 ahead.

“But then we started to make too many errors and when you analyse the game it was our mistakes which kept Oxford University in the game.

“There was a 10-minute period before half-time and a 20-minute period after half time where we allowed them to dominate the contact and the breakdown.

“All credit to the players for coming back in the way that they did. In the last 10 minutes, we dug deep and got into the ascendancy.”

One of the primary objectives of the practice match was to cultivate some familiarity amongst the squad and Gemmell believes it was a case of mission accomplished.

He added: “That team has never played with each before and that team may never play together again.

“But that is what professional rugby is about for these guys – they need to be able to adapt to different situations.

“The boys trained well this morning and bought into what we are trying to do. That has given us a platform to build on and it is nice to start with a win.

“It encourages our players to now take the next step on. It was good to see Sean Lineen, Andy Robinson and the Edinburgh coaching staff, Rob Moffat, Tom Smith and Nick Scrivener watching the game.

“That is good for the players because now they can see they have platforms from where they can be measured. That is what it is about and now and we will move onto our next game.”

Gael Force: Steve Jones (Edinburgh), Chris Kinloch (Glasgow Warriors), Andrew Easson (Edinburgh), Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors), Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh), David Blair (Edinburgh), Ross Samson (Edinburgh); Ryan Grant (Edinburgh), Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors), David Young (Edinburgh), Neale Patrick (National Academy and Booughmuir), David Denton (National Academy and Edinburgh Academicals), Fraser McKenzie (Edinburgh), Chris Fusaro (National Academy and Heriot’s), Stuart McInally (National Academy and Watsonians).

Replacements: Dougie Orr (National Academy and Haddington), Colin Phillips (National Academy and Stewart’s-Melville), Struan Dewar (National Academy and Heriot’s), Neil Rodger (National Academy and Haddington), Peter Jericevich (National Academy and Glasgow Hawks), Tom Bury (National Academy and Boroughmuir), Grant Anderson (National Academy and Ayr).