On a bitterly cold Wednesday evening in Bristol, the Men’s Blues had their first outing of 2019 and scrapped their way to a win against a a determined and gritty Bristol University team. The match was played on the AGP at Coombe Dingle which should have allowed for a fast open game, however the referee unfortunately found too many occasions to bow the whistle and disrupt the flow of the game.

All four tries came from catch and rive line-outs, Oxford nudging ahead with two successful conversions from young Freshman fly-half Louis Jackson. This was the first occasion that the two Universities had played for the Evans/Reeves Trophy at 1st XV level, and Oxford were delighted to hold on the trophy having won the three previous encounter at 2nd or 2rd XV level.

Whilst the Blues performance was far from perfect, it was a very useful match in preparation for the stern test to come at Aldershot next Wednesday evening when they face the might of the British Army, kick-off 7.30pm.

Starting XV:

1 Ben Parker 2 John Aaron Henry 3 Conor Hennessy 4 Jasper Dix 5 Charlie Pozniak 6 Sam Ridgway 7 Sam Miller 8 Ryan Jones 9 Dylan McGagh 10 Louis Pincott 11 Tom Stileman 12 Louis Jackson 13 Daniel Barley 14 Henry Martin 15 James Dempsey

Replacements:

Louis Wright (on for John Aaron Henry), Abhijeet Oswal (on for Ben Parker), Barney Vaughan (on for Conor Hennessy), Will Garson (on for Jasper Dix), Euan Friend (on for Henry Martin), Robbie Fraser (on for Louis Pincott), Sebastian Haddock (on for Daniel Barley), Tobi Clarke (on for Dylan McGagh)

Scores T: John Aaron Henry (1), Charlie Pozniak (1) C: Louis Jackson (2)