There was a sense of relief amongst the Cambridge camp after they ended a long, six-year wait to win their first Varsity Match against Oxford since 2009.
Former Australian international, Dan Vickerman was captain that day, but in the 135th year of the historic event, tries from Mike Phillips and Rory Triniman each side of the break secured the Light Blues a 23-18 triumph.
Daniel Dass (Cambridge Captain):
“It was a tough 364 days since last year and I’m tired and emotional. It is just fantastic to finally get the win with a team like this.
“It is easy to come back each year if you are winning, but to keep coming back after losing for six years in a row is unbelievable. The difference this year was the intercept try.
“We worked as hard as we did last year and, in the end, it was just a few tiny technical things that made the difference. Only conceding three points early on when they were coming at us was huge for us and the intercept try gave us another boost and dented them.”
Outside half Fraser Gillies, who played a pivotal part in the win, amassing 13 points from the tee, explained his relief after falling on the losing side in the previous two years.
Fraser Gillies (Cambridge Outside Half):
“That has been a long time coming. We were made to wait for that until the final few seconds. We felt pretty calm out there for most of it. There were times when we took our foot off the gas a little, but we probably had good territory stats which we set out to do.
“That win was for people like Will Briggs. He has been waiting a long time for that. He is an outstanding rugby player and has not deserved to lose as many Varsity Matches as he has.”
“We had a lot of young guys out there today, a lot of undergraduates, so they will be here for a while. They certainly have a couple more years in them. You need that stability. The future for Cambridge is very bright, a couple of us will be moving on, of course, but I think we have a strong underline base for the future.”
Bristol full-back Charlie Amesbury played his hand for the Light Blues with a hard-hitting defensive display. And he praised his teammates for grinding out the historic victory.
Charlie Amesbury (Cambridge Full Back):
“I think our defence was unreal. They didn’t really have an answer to it. They had a lot of the ball in the first-half and then Mike [Phillips] grabs that interception and it killed them really.
“Fraser had a great game and put points on the board and that certainly made the difference. There is a unique feeling about playing at Twickenham. It has a certain smell to it and we were in the England changing room which has a sense of history. You can up your game at Twickenham, it is easy to get motivated playing here. But in the end it was a relief to get the win right at the end.”
