There are those who classify the Varsity Match alongside foxhunting as elitist blood sports they would rather avoid. At Twickenham yesterday a real live urban fox even showed up in the East Stand during the first half but those who came expecting to see Cambridge complete their ritual slaughter of Dark Blue hopes left cruelly disappointed.
Instead of a record sixth successive Bowring Bowl, the Light Blues suffered only their third defeat of the decade to an Oxford side obliged to fight back from 13-3 down at half-time. It may have taken a 76th minute try from flanker Luke Sheriff to edge them in front for the first time, but even the most one-eyed of Cambridge men could deny the opposition pack's second-half deeds deserved their reward.
A crowd of around 50,000, something of a miracle considering the rain, the heaving trains and the closed post-match stadium bars, decided to turn up.
Two Cambridge tries inside the first 23 minutes from Robin Morrow and the Japanese World Cup squad member Ken Iwabuchi scarcely hinted Oxford's luck was about to change but their South African captain, Norman Celliers, outstanding along with David Kelaher and Sheriff in the Oxford back row, had other ideas.
"By half-time I had the feeling we could win it," said Celliers, encouraged by the way Cambridge's understandable initial confidence was beginning to waver in the tight. The two big Queensland brothers, Angus and Hamish Innes, in the Light Blue second row found themselves back-pedalling furiously at one second-half scrum and from that moment it was largely a question of whether Oxford would blow their big chance.
As it turned out, Toby Beer's three penalties and touchline conversion of Sheriff's try proved a match-winning contribution.
OXFORD: Graham (Worcester); Beer (Regent's Park), Shuman (Templeton), Kinniburgh (Oriel), Danielli (Trinity); FitzGerald (Balliol), Weston (Keble); Lehner (Kellogg; Jeffreys (Linacre 51), Nicholas (Brasenose; Parker (Christ Church 77), Collins (Lincoln), Russell (Magdelen), Miall (St Anne's), Sherriff (St Anne's), Kelaher (St Cross), Celliers (Keble, capt).
CAMBRIDGE: Paulin (Hughes Hall; Buoy (Hughes Hall 79); Williams (St Edmund's; Jones (St Edmund's 70), Bidwell (Hughes Hall), Rudge (Queen's), Morrow (Hughes Hall); Iwabuchi (St Edmund's), Peacocke (Hughes Hall); Cooke (St Edmund's), Hamilton-Smith (Homerton), Hennessy (Homerton), H Innes (Hughes Hall), A Innes (Hughes Hall, capt), Grabham (Homerton), Haslett (St Catharine's), Count (Jesus).
Referee: C Thomas (Wales)
