The OURFC Whippets demolished the Cambridge University Centurions by a historic margin of 50-12 at Iffley Road. The Whippets’ victory marked the beginning of twin victories for the Boys in Dark Blue (shout-out the Greyhounds 32-27 win) and a long, painful day for the Tabs. Shoe!
Minutes before kick-off, Tom Mewes, spoke of his humble origin story in the Whippets. “I didn’t get game time in the Whips for two months.” Mewes, who has started for the last three consecutive Varsity Matches at right and left wing, inspired the boys with his own stories. “My fondest memories in OURFC come from the Whips. I’m still in touch with those guys from my first Varsity. It is a day that you will remember for the rest of your life.”
Inspired by Mewes’ story, Whips’ Skipper Joe Dingle broke into his thick Welsh accent and gave the Whippets a warrior’s speech, reminding the Whippets of the hard wins and losses on the season. Last year, the Whippets had only three games before the whistle blew against Cambridge. Having played against Cardiff Metropolitan Freshers, Berkshire under 20’s, and other traveling men’s sides in a campaign of thirteen hard fought games, the Whippets were well prepared.
As we took the field, supporters from the Hounds and Blues formed a tunnel and cheered us on. We stormed through the breach, screaming with pride for OURFC, ready to take the field against our archnemesis, the Tabs.
The whistle blew. Kick-off was underway.
From kick-off, Oxford dominated one-on-one contact, running through double tackles and stringing together a number of phases towards midfield. What looked like a tragic penalty at first by the Whippets turned into a reversal of fortune against the Tabs with Whippets playing from our 22 out.
Eventually, with line breaks from Vivek Ramen, Luke Gamber, and James Maddocks, Oxford earned a penalty within the Tabs’ 22. George Cooper, a lone warrior, tapped and went and dove to score the first try of the day. Cooper’s score marked only the beginning of 8 tries scored on the day.
Aary Dahr stormed through a hole for 60 meters and swan dived under the middle of the posts (pictured) to score in style, leading to an easy conversion by Charlie Callaghan.
The Whippets kept the pressure on and had the tabs pinned on their 5m line. After a few phases Sam Treweeke could rumble through the weak shoulder of a tab and burst over the line. The energy continued to build in the crowd and Callaghan could slot another conversion after the try.
After maintaining solid set piece and structure the Whippets found themselves pinned in their own 22, until James Maddocks once again beat his opposite man and broke the line. With multiple options Maddocks gave the ball to fullback Fin Dineen who could simply draw the Cambridge player and allow Charlie Callaghan to gas through and score. The crowd erupted with excitement at such fluid rugby from the whippets’ backline. Callaghan converted his try, and the score stood at 24-0.
The Centurions kept the fight strong with aggressive pods and threatening back moves that tested the Whippets’ defense at times. After a penalty, a Centurion picked up and went. After a dominant tackle the ball was lost where Luc Gamber could scoop it up. After a 60m foot chase with the Cambridge loosehead, Luc had too much gas and scored in the corner leaving the score at 31-0 at the half to Oxford.
With the Second half underway, the Whippets could not let themselves take their foot off the pedal. Early in the half, the ball makes its way to Izzy Adeji just outside the Tabs’ 22. With 3 players still left to beat, Izzy showed off some amazing footwork and danced his way through to score and allowing Callaghan to slot it over for the conversion.
With most of the substitutes coming onto the pitch they all wanted to add something to the game and increase the score. This was seen almost immediately when Jacob Brown only 5 minutes into being subbed on hit a stunning 50-22 nudge putting the whips in excellent scoring position. A solid lineout set piece followed by a maul allowed Joe Dingle to break off and build quick ball at the base of the ruck. The backs performed a fluid move allowing Charlie Callaghan to have the ball just outside the 15m channel, where he made a lovely chip and collected the ball past the Cambridge defensive line and allowing him to score his second try of the day.
The Tabs did not give up as after a couple of penalties, they found themselves inside the Oxford 22 with some momentum. After being held up over the line, the referee penalised Oxford once more and gave Harry Martin a yellow card for the accumulation penalties for being offside. The Centurions took this chance and used the overlap to score in the corner with their winger.
Cambridge felt a bit of hope and kept pushing hard and putting pressure on the Whippets, however the Oxford defense stayed strong with several big hits keeping Cambridge pinned in their half. The ball made its way back to Oxfords hands, and Ben Clarke showed amazing skills to beat his man and offload to Ben Maxwell-Hyslop who could dive over and score in the corner.
The Cambridge Centurions never let up alongside the Whippets and managed to score one more try. However, with the clock nearing its end and the referee calling last play they kept playing. Yet after a strong defensive set from the Whippets, the Centurions were stuck in their half. The ball was lost in a tackle allowing the Oxford Whippets to recover the ball and kick it out leaving the final score as 50-12 to the Whippets. It was a fantastic day of rugby with an onslaught of tries, a dominant defensive effort and fluid fats pace attack. Captain Joe Dingle rushed to the trophy, and the crowd rumbled with the team as the Whippets celebrated bringing the trophy back to Iffley Road after a disappointing result in the fixture last year. This game put the Greyhounds in great stead in their game in which they also won, so both the dogs teams look forward to the Blues game on Saturday 8th March where hopefully the men can do the triple over Cambridge. For all your Varsity match day information and tickets head to www.ourfc.org/varsity
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