̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Rugby Union Football Club

Cambridge men’s rugby team achieve the three-peat in a day of mixed fortunes at ̽��ֱ��Varsity Matches

jek67 — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 09:09:34 +0000

̽��ֱ��men’s match saw Cambridge open the scoring with a fifth-minute penalty from George Bland (King’s), but Oxford responded with two tries, both converted, to establish a 21-6 lead. Despite the early setback, Cambridge rallied before halftime with tries from Matt Riddington (St Edmund’s) and Alex Christey (St John’s), both converted by Bland, to narrow the gap to 21-18.

Oxford extended their lead early in the second half but Cambridge refused to relent. A try from Ryan Santos (Jesus), followed by a decisive score from Luke John (Emmanuel), turned the tide in Cambridge’s favour. Bland’s conversion and a late penalty sealed a dramatic 35-28 victory, marking the Light Blues’ third consecutive Varsity Match win.

̽��ֱ��women’s match proved to be a tougher challenge and despite a valiant defensive effort, the Light Blues were unable to contain a strong Oxford side. ̽��ֱ��Dark Blues scored two early tries and added a third before halftime to give Oxford a 15-0 lead.

Cambridge showed renewed determination in the second half, with Zoe Wright (Clare) scoring a try after a quick tap penalty. Phoebe Jackson’s (Jesus) conversion brought the score to 15-7, but Oxford crossed the line twice more to secure a 27-7 victory for the Dark Blues. While the women’s team didn’t go home with the trophy their relentless tackling and commitment to the game earned them praise.

Congratulations to all four teams who competed on the day, their Coaches and everyone working behind the scenes. It was a day that demonstrated the spirit and determination that define ̽��ֱ�� sports and ̽��ֱ��Varsity Matches.

Varsity women's match

Cambridge men’s team:

Bland; Santos, John, Riddington, Andrew; Bottomley, Holdroyd; Collins, Gompels, Edwards, Beaumont, Kantolinna, Hughes, Christey, Tosa.

Replacements: Petty (Collins, 40), Hide (Holdroyd, 55), Allinson (Bottomley, 55), Jones (Beaumont, 55), Day (Santos, 77). Not used: Du Roy, Addai, Evans.

Cambridge women’s team:

Smith; Embil, Yau, Jackson, Chaoui; McGregor, Glazier; Jones, Warner, Heathfield, Harding, Wright, Millar, Martin, Brown.

Replacements: Haspel (McGregor, 31). Latimer (Harding, 40), Crozier (Martin, 40), Lord (Chaoui, 40), Ubom (Jones, 41), Weatherhogg (Heathfield, 71), Newton-Ingham (Smith, 74), Chadirchi (Warner, 79).

Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� experienced a day of two halves at ̽��ֱ��Varsity Matches on Saturday 8 March, with the men’s team securing a thrilling 35-28 victory over Oxford ̽��ֱ��’s Dark Blues while the women’s side fell to a 27-7 defeat in a hard-fought contest at Saracens’ StoneX Stadium.

CURUFC

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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̽��ֱ��new Varsity Blues: meet two of Cambridge's rugby stars

jek67 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 15:27:32 +0000

Meet two of Cambridge's newest rugby stars, ready to take on Oxford in this year's Varsity showdown at Stone X Stadium on Saturday 8 March.

Cambridge wins the Varsity double

jek67 — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 10:38:27 +0000

Cambridge men and women's rugby teams both win ̽��ֱ��Varsity Matches.

Teams announced for ̽��ֱ��Varsity Matches

jek67 — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 10:00:07 +0000

̽��ֱ��men's and women's teams for the 2024 Varsity matches are today announced.

A new home for the Varsity Matches

jek67 — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 09:19:08 +0000

̽��ֱ��Cambridge vs Oxford Varsity Rugby Matches are moving to the Saracens StoneX Stadium for the first time in their 152-year history.

Cambridge dominates a weekend of varsity sport

jek67 — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 09:45:25 +0000

It was an exceptional weekend of sport between Cambridge and Oxford ̽��ֱ�� which saw Cambridge win five out of six sporting fixtures. ̽��ֱ��Light Blues won the 141st men’s Varsity Rugby Match on Saturday, followed by ̽��ֱ��Boat Race on Sunday where Cambridge won the 77th Women’s Race, the 168th Men’s Race and both Reserve races.

Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� RUFC men’s team dug deep at Twickenham on Saturday 25 March to deny Oxford a hat-trick of victories. ̽��ֱ��Cambridge Light Blues, led by Jamie Benson, took the match 15-10 to extend the winning head-to-head record in the fixture to 65-62.

̽��ֱ��following day, ̽��ֱ��Boat Race was dominated by Cambridge, who comprehensively won all four races along ̽��ֱ��Championship Course on the River Thames, London.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge Women’s crew took victory by four-and-a-quarter lengths, making it a sixth straight win for the women's team.

̽��ֱ��men’s crew held off a late charge from Oxford to win by just over a length for their fourth victory in the past five races.

Cambridge lead the rivalry 47-30 in the women's event, while Cambridge men have won 86 times to Oxford's 81.

Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� RUFC women’s were defeated in the Varsity Rugby Match for the first time since 2016 with a 31-12 loss against their Oxford counterparts at Twickenham. They had racked up wins in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before last year’s meeting between the rivals ended in a first ever draw, meaning Cambridge successfully defended the title.

Light Blue victories at both the Varsity Rugby Match and ̽��ֱ��Boat Race

Benedict Tufnell / Row360

Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Men and Women's Boat Race Crews celebrate their wins

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Cambridge makes history with Varsity women's Twickenham debut

ts657 — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 10:30:19 +0000

Tomorrow will see history made on Twickenham Stadium’s hallowed turf as it hosts the Women’s Varsity Match for the first time.

̽��ֱ��match, which has alternated between Oxford ̽��ֱ��'s Iffley Road and Cambridge's Grange Road stadiums for the past 27 years, will kick off at Twickenham at 11:30am.

Captain Nikki Weckman said: “ ̽��ֱ��switch to Twickenham Stadium is immensely important because it really puts women’s rugby on a much bigger, much more visible platform for people who are interested in the sport, or who want to try out women’s rugby.

“Speaking to students, male and female, it’s generating quite a buzz that we’re going to Twickenham this year. So I’m hoping it will encourage more people to try out the sport and see how much fun it can be. “

She paid tribute to previous team captains who had pushed for the move. “ ̽��ֱ��captains and presidents of the past several years have really been the driving force behind the move to Twickenham, but it wouldn’t have happened without the support of the club and our sponsors.”

Cambridge's women will be looking to build on the 47-0 victory over Dark Blues at Grange Road earlier this year in the 28th meeting of the two teams. ̽��ֱ��Cambridge side also boasts President of the first Women's Boat Race crew to race on the Tideway last year, Caroline Reid, as a winger.

But Weckman remains cautious, particularly as Oxford’s new coach Gary Street led England Women to their first rugby World Cup title last year. “We came out very well in the last match but it is a new year, a new team and Oxford have a wonderful coach this year who I know will be driving them hard so the last thing I want to do is underestimate them,” Weckman said.

“But I have full confidence in our team because of the effort that they’ve been putting in. Our last match we won 117-nil, which was a nice confidence boost.

“But the Varsity Match is the biggest match. Academically Oxford and Cambridge have always challenged each other and it’s the same in sports. That’s the big challenge – to prove yourself better than ̽��ֱ��Other Place.”

̽��ֱ��men’s ‘Battle of the Blues’ tomorrow (kick-off 2:30pm) will see Wales and British and Irish Lions centre Jamie Roberts become the first current international to play in the Varsity Match since Dan Vickerman in 2009.

Roberts, who is studying for an MPhil in Medical Science (Surgery), will be joined by first-time Blues Simon Davies, Oliver Clough, Dave Spelman, Ian Nagle and James Kilroe as Cambridge bids to deny Oxford a record sixth successive win.

Vice-Chancellor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz will be among the crowd at Twickenham cheering on the Blues.

̽��ֱ��Women’s Varsity Match kicks off at 11:30am. ̽��ֱ��Varsity Match (men’s) kicks off at 2:30pm. Live coverage of the Women’s Match will be streamed on www.bbc.co.uk/sport. ̽��ֱ��Varsity Match (men’s) will be screened live on BBC2 from 2pm-4.30pm. For further details, see www.thevarsitymatch.com.

Update: Cambridge won the Women's Varsity Match 52-0 with tries by Alice Middleton, Anna Wilson, Lara Gibson and Chloe Withers. Oxford won the Varsity Match (men's) 12-6. Cambridge Women’s Varsity captain Nikki Weckman said after the match: "We were expecting Oxford to put up a pretty big fight and they did. What we weren’t expecting was to put so many points on the board! All the hard work everyone put in, in every training session – they really pulled it out today.”

Twickenham hosts Women’s Varsity rugby for the first time tomorrow.

It’s generating quite a buzz that we’re going to Twickenham... I’m hoping it will encourage more people to try out the sport and see how much fun it can be.

Women's Varsity Captain Nikki Weckman

Launch of historic 2015 Women's Rugby Varsity Match

Cambridge Women’s Varsity team celebrate their win over Oxford in March 2015

Fact file

This is the 29th Women’s Varsity Match and the 134th men’s Varsity Match
Cambridge has won 2 out of the past 5 Women’s Varsity Matches.
Oxford has won the past five Varsity Matches (men’s) but Cambridge has recorded five wins in a row on three separate occasions, 1972-76, 1980-84 and 1994-98.
No side has ever won six Varsity Matches in a row.
̽��ֱ��women’s and men’s university clubs merged to form one club under Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Rugby Union Football Club in 2013.
̽��ֱ��Women’s Varsity Match team 2015: Ciara Scott (Pembroke), Jessica Charlton (Newnham), Tamsin Banner (Girton), Laura Nunez-Mulder (Emmanuel), Nikki Weckman (Trinity), Alice Elgar (Girton), Chloe Withers (Fitzwilliam), Hannah Cooper (Fitzwilliam), Lydia Thorn (Corpus Christi), Clare Donaldson (Clare), Caroline Reid (Jesus), Anna Wilson (Jesus), Emily McNally (St Edmund’s), Lara Gibson (Lucy Cavendish), Alice Middleton (Lucy Cavendish), Ayala Donegan (Girton), Lucy Sutcliffe (Murray Edwards), Charlotte Edgerley (Homerton), Laura Bateman (Churchill), Bethany Randall (Sidney Sussex), Livvy Probert (Downing), Heather Britton (Jesus), Sophie Farrant (Emmanuel)
̽��ֱ��Men’s Varsity team 2015: Simon Davies (Jesus College); Ilia Cherezov (St John's), Oliver Clough (St Edmund's), Jamie Roberts (Queens'), Andy Rees (St Catharine's); Fraser Gillies (Hughes Hall), Don Stevens (St Edmund's); Will Briggs (Magdalene), Max Montgomery (Emmanuel), Dave Spelman (Jesus), Rob Hall (Downing), Ian Nagle (Hughes Hall), James Kilroe (Robinson), Daniel Dass (St Catharine's), Sam Farmer (Wolfson).

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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