Oxford v Cambridge: Everything you need to know about the Varsity Match

Rugby Union / Tobias Gourlay / 08 December 2009 / Leave a Comment

"After a dour series of Autumn internationals dominated by fly-halves with big boots and little flair, something needs to be done to liven up rugby at the highest level, and a Varsity Match full of running play would be welcome."

The 128th Varsity Match between Oxford University and Cambridge University kicks-off at 2pm on Thursday. The game, which has been played at Twickenham since 1921, has traditionally been a chance for fans to have a look at future internationals. But does it provide any decent betting opportunities? Former Light Blue Tobias Gourlay investigates.

Not long ago Oxford and Cambridge universities produced enough international-class players between them to service a decent England backline: Rob Andrew, Tony Underwood and Damien Hopley wore the Light Blue of Cambridge; Stuart Barnes, Phil De Glanville and Simon Halliday were Dark Blues at Oxford. There were others too. Gavin Hastings captained Cambridge in the 1985 Varsity Match, and made his debut for Scotland in the 1986 Five Nations little more than a month later.

In 1995, at the dawn of professionalism, then-Cambridge captain Steve Cottrell said: 'Cambridge and Oxford are held in such high regard as universities that, even in today's changing environment, there will always be people who want to come for the sake of their education and enjoy their rugby at the same time. That's not going to change, no matter how much money clubs may be paying out.'

That year, fly-half David Humphreys scored all of Oxford's points in a 21-19 defeat. In February 1996 he won the first of 73 caps for Ireland, and so ended an era. Simon Danielli, a Scotland wing and exponent of nitwitted haircuts, is old-school probably only in that he progressed to international rugby after playing for Cambridge as late as 1999 and 2000. Perhaps he was the last to do so.

For the 1995 game they expected a crowd of 78,000 at a newly refurbished Twickenham. Without the future internationals - they've all gone to the clubs' academies, and the players who can afford to come for the sake of their education are ex-internationals with an eye on their post-rugby careers - it's only the families, the boozing students and the schmoozing City boys left. Fewer than 30,000 turned up in 2008.

But those select few saw an exciting game of rugby that suggested a brighter future for the fixture. Oxford won 33-29 - the two teams' highest ever combined points total - with wing Tim Catling, who is ready to go again this week, becoming the first player to score a hat-trick in 74 years.

After a dour series of autumn internationals dominated by fly-halves with big boots and little flair, it is agreed something needs to be done to liven up the sport at the highest level, and a Varsity Match full of running rugby would be welcome. If a game like last year's were expected every year, the fixture might soon regain the attention of the wider rugby public.

Cambridge lost a year ago, but having won three in a row prior to that, and 12 of the last 20, they lead the series 60-53. There have been 14 draws since the very first match in 1872. The most recent came in 2003.

Last year, Oxford fielded two internationals, including former All Black hooker Anton Oliver, and Cambridge had three - an All Black of their own, Mark Ranby, and Dan Vickerman, an Australian lock who had played in that year's Tri-Nations, among them.

This time, Oxford's starting XV contains an international, Canadian flanker Stan McKeen, and 12 players with previous Varsity Match experience. They also have John Carter, a back-row who won the Premiership with Sale Sharks, but they are led by hooker Dan Rosen, who becomes the first former-undergraduate (i.e. the first person with a proper Oxford degree) to captain the side since 1988.

Cambridge have made Vickerman their captain and retained Doug Rowe, the American scrum-half who played last year. They are joined by Ross Broadfoot, a former Leicester fly-half who was unavailable through injury last year, and Niall Conlon, who propped for Ulster before stepping down to this level.

The betting markets on the match are only beginning to mature at the time of writing, but early bettors might like to consider that in only two of the 14 games played in the professional era has the winning margin exceeded 12.5pts.