In a pulsating, see-sawing Varsity match, the OURFC Greyhounds were able to hold off a late Tab resistance to finally get over the line in a Varsity for the first time since 2022.
Buoyed by the dominance of the Whippets victory earlier in the day, the Greyhounds started the game at breakneck pace, stunning the LX’s with a combination of disciplined defence and heavy carrying, and extended into a 15-0 Lead. The first points of the day came from the boot of Faria, who converted an early penalty conceded by the LX’s in front of the sticks, conceded by the LX Fly-Half, who attempted to tackle a marauding Jonty Scott-Brown with his nose, and escaped with only an extremely unsightly face (unrelated to the tackle), and also a broken nose. 3-0.
No soon as the Greyhounds had received kickoff, did they find themselves camped back in Tabby territory, where, following a deep kick to touch, a maul effort halted 10m out. The forwards crashed off this base, picking ever closer to the line, before Victor Angelov, demonstrating utterly no carefully drilled and honed technique whatsoever, somehow managed to avoid being held up as he broke through 3 tabs to score under the posts through sheer desire. 10-0
The dream start did not stop. Yet again, the dogs found themselves in the opposition 22. After another period of sustained pressure, the Tabs conceded a penalty, and the decision was taken to kick into the corner and test the Tab maul defence. However, Jack Botham didn’t hear this decision, and took it upon himself to tap and go, burrowing down to score. 15-0 after 25 minutes.
The LX’s had to come back into the game, and they were allowed to by a series of poor exits by the Greyhounds, which put them under a greater degree of pressure than necessary. The LXs converted two quick tries following forward pressure on the line, which left the scoreline at 15-14 at Half-Time.
Words were exchanged, lots of them, some of them not very nice words. Demons haunted many in the room of the previous year’s varsity, and for an unfortunate few, the year before that. Lingering doubts were dispelled by a rousing call to arms by Skipper Eben Terry, asking for 40 minutes of graft to immortalise the 2025 Greyhounds. They came out of the tunnel to a cacophony of noise from the Blues and Whips, and were followed by an even louder chorus of boos as the LXs rejoined the fray.
The Greyhounds found themselves early on in the 2nd half down in Pavilion Corner, as Stu Brown called the 87th line out in a row to himself. The instant that Stu landed and the maul was set, he recognised the opportunity, and called in the backs, who added varying degrees of weight (thankfully Club President George Morgan was still on the pitch at this point) and rolled over the LX’s from 20 out, as Beefy picked up his second of the match, fantastically converted by Faria. 22-14
Again, issues arose around the Greyhounds exit, which gave the tabs a platform to attack off, 40m out. They put together a 10+ phase move, which was repelled by a disciplined defence, which gave nothing easy. Just as it looked as though the attack had run out of ideas and a kick was impending, Joel ‘Genius’ Anjorin decided to go for a turnover ‘that was definitely on’, and, unsurprisingly, gave away a kickable penalty. 22-17.
The infringements kept on coming from the LX’s though, and the Dogs found themselves in another maul, which broke down into forwards flying round the corner into a wall of dark green. Pat Meigh masterfully recognised the game situation, and elected without any prior planning or calling to take a drop goal attempt from at least 45m (inside the 22) and from a difficult angle (bang in front). In Jonny Wilkinson-esque fashion, it scraped over the bar, having taken a heavy deflection from the very bottom left of the post. 25-17.
What came next was the Josh Nav Shirt pres ‘moment of the match’. As the Dogs yet again failed to exit, they found themselves in a lengthy D set, but the Blue and Grey wall held firm. As the tabs grew frustrated, a speculative pass was picked off by Will Powell, who began a break for the line. The first defender slipped off, and he was away. The crowd on their feet. The LX 13, who the Cambridge Blues Captain had claimed would ‘run the show’ on instagram, was dispatched. The Crowd started jumping. One final defender chased, and the whole pitch went silent. A despairing tap tackle failed, and Iffley Road Erupted. Will Powell under the sticks. 32-17. 20 to go.
In all honesty, I can’t really remember what happened for the last 20. Jimmy Longhawn decided he was too tired to continue, so picked up a yellow for introducing his opposite man to the sand-dirt mixture of Iffley Road at the bottom of a ruck. The Tabs did pick up another converted score, probably through bare-faced cheating, although I’m not certain, and then a penalty, which was probably completely ridiculous and in some sense contrary to the spirit of Rugby Union, although I’m not certain, to bring it down to a grand stand finish.
32-27, Greyhounds to Kick off, Final Play. The kick went deep, and the Blue and Grey engaged in a Spartan like display of commitment, as they defended in excess of 20 phases in the tab 22, without one penalty or silly error to allow them a shot. A knock-on finally brought the end of the game, and the return of the trophy to its rightful place in the Ricoh Room.
In true Dog fashion, the celebrations went late into the evening. And late into last evening. There are rumours of a three day rollover, tbc. Does anyone know what County OURFC resides in? The Dogs do, I’m certain. We now look to our Blues sides to finish off the varsity campaign in strength, following the Panthers’ victory at Grange Road yesterday. Tickets are still available here, and the whole club will be out in force at the StoneX on Saturday. Don’t miss out on a true day of shoeing.
See the full match album here, courtesy of Steve Karpa
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