“I accept your challenge.” Four words that symbolise the official start of this season’s hotly contested Varsity Match 2019. Oxford University RFC and Cambridge University RUFC men’s and women’s teams faced off in style to set the challenge for the annual Battle of the Blues.
Held in the historic Freshfields Bruckhaus, the occasion was not only attended by the athletes and their respective captains, but also legendary former International players including light blues Huw Davies (England) and Eric Peters (Scotland) and dark blues David Humphreys (Ireland) and Phil de Glanville (England).
Hosted by the Varsity Match chairman Tim Jones, the official formalities of the event saw the captains of last year’s losing club introduce the incoming captains. Last year’s Oxford captain, Abbie de Cruz, introduced this year’s women’s captain, Hazel Ellender, who proposed the challenge to Cambridge’s Fiona Shuttleworth. Stephen Leonard of Cambridge was introduced by Cambridge’s former captain Nick Koster, as he lay down the gauntlet to be picked up by Ed David on behalf of Oxford.
The Varsity Match 2019 will take place on Thursday 12th December. The Women’s KO is at 11.30am and the Men’s KO at 3pm.
