On an inexplicably warm and sunny afternoon Oxford and Cambridge met for the second time to determine the victor of the mixed touch rugby Varsity Match at Iffley Road on Saturday 2nd March.

Still reeling from their 13-1 defeat last year Cambridge had obviously been training hard recruiting England Touch rugby coach Jon Lovell and England international Anna Wilson to turn their team around. All this work appeared to pay off when Cambridge took an early lead in the first few minutes. However, Oxford’s staunch defence and superior fitness begun to show with the Dark Blues dominating the middle of the field, not allowing the Light Blues into their final third. A pattern quickly developed with Oxford matching Cambridge’s scores thanks in no small part to Russell ‘twinkle-toes’ Reid’s two tries and Millie Brunton’s penetrating runs down the wing.

The score progressed 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2,  … , until it stood 5 – 4 to Cambridge with 5 minutes to go. Recognising the biggest advantage Oxford had over Cambridge: pace, pace and more pace, George ‘Gazelle- Carew-Jones stepped up scoring two tries in quick succession to seal the deal for Oxford with minuets to spare.

Overall an extremely hard fought game, we look forward to defending our title once again in Cambridge next year.