This Saturday 8th February, exactly one month before The Varsity Matches, Iffley Road will see Les Crunches and the Battle for the City.
Running order:
14:00 Gates open
14:15 Italy v Wales shown in the Pavilion
15:00 Women*s Blues v Sciences Po University
16:45 England v France Men’s Six Nations shown in Pavilion and in the Fan Zone on a 20ft big screen
19:15 Men*s Blues v Oxford Brookes University
Sciences Po
At 3pm, the Women*s Blues will kick off against a visiting French team from Sciences Po University. This Parisian institution has long had a relationship with Oxford, though previously this relationship was specific to St John’s College. Each year, the men*s rugby teams of one have travelled to the other for a weekend of rugby and international culture. This year, with the French team travelling to St John’s for their annual fixture, the Women*s team will be joining them abroad in Oxford for the first time.
The Women’s Sciences Po team, Les Birds, come to England with a successful track record in both sevens and tens: Champions of France Rugby VII 2024 and silver medallists at France Rugby X 2024. This match will be their first foray into XV rugby and the extended Blues squad look to try out some potential combinations for Varsity as well as creating the opportunity for game time for some Panthers players.
Please come on down to see the game, with one ticket available here to give you access to all three matches. With the demand for tickets for this event, seats have not been ticketed, so please get down to Iffley Road early so that you can support the Women*s Blues and snag a seat for the later games.
Six Nations
Once this game finishes, The Blues will be swapped for the Les Bleus as Le Crunch Part Two takes place at Twickenham and is televised at Iffley Road. There will be three screens and two bars: two televisions in the Pavilion with the Pavilion Bar and a large outdoor screen with another bar in Scrum Corner.
We warmly invite you to join us for the second French clash of the day at Iffley Road, kicking off at 4:45pm, another opportunity to grab a seat before they’re all gone for the later Brookes match.
Steve Borthwick’s team will be taking on a French side captained by Gregory Alldritt, bolstered by a convincing victory last weekend in which they were the only Six Nations side not to concede a point. After England’s disappointing defeat at the hands of the Irish, and agonising two-point loss last year, the team will be back with a vengeance in their first home game of the tournament.
Brookes
Our final contest of the day will begin at 7:15pm, with local rivals, Oxford Brookes University, descending from Headington Hill to take on the Men*s Blues in the ‘Battle for the City’. The three bars will remain open for business, accompanied by onsite vendors selling burgers, fries, donuts, and churros.
Last year saw the crowning of the Dark Blues as the champions of Oxford rugby. Fresh from their victory against Reading Rams last Friday, the Blues hope to defend their stake on the Oxford crown against the visiting Pink Army. However, following the graduation of nine of the Dark Blue starting XV who faced Brookes last year, there’s all to play for in this skirmish to be named this year’s victor.
Secure your tickets here for a day of fierce rugby at Iffley Road, with an International Women*s Blues game before an International England Men’s performance, finished off by a local derby for the Men*s Blues. We expect the site to be incredibly busy, predicting a crowd of over 2,000 people, so please be aware that there will not be any parking available onsite on Saturday.
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