The Oxford Women’s captain Jess Abele will have a little piece of history in mind when she leads out the Dark Blues at Twickenham in the Varsity match on Saturday, 2 April.
The 29-year-old forward has already joined an exclusive band of women who have won Blues for both teams in the Varsity Match. If she can help to bring an end Cambridge’s four match winning streak then she will become the first player to end up on the winning side in both shades of blue.
BOTH SHADES OF BLUE
Oxford Cambridge
Julie Potter 1989 W – 1990 W – 1991 W 1994 L
Kosnatu Abdulai 2007 W – 2008 L 2006 L
Hannah Cooper 2017 L – 2018 L – 2019 L – 2021 L 2015(1) W – 2015(2) W
Jess Abele 2019 L – 2021 L 2018 W
“The game at Twickenham will be my last chance to win in an Oxford jersey because it will be my last game of rugby. I’ve still got another year of research to go, but the physical toll is getting too great,” said Abele.
“It is going to be an emotional and sad occasion. I’d love to go out on a high by leading Oxford to victory.”
When she won the first of what will be three Blues for Oxford she knew more of the Cambridge players than she did in her own side. A winner in Light Blue at Twickenham in 2018, she then switched colours to pursue her PhD research at “the other place”.
Two bad injuries to front line players in the past few weeks, lock Eleanor Dunlop and outside half Stella Farmer, have been a blow, but there will be no mental hang-ups for Abele’s side when they head to the home of English rugby.
“There are only three of us who have played at Twickenham before, so it is going to be a big moment for the rest of the team when we arrive the day before the game to look around. It is such a fantastic place to be able to play – a real honour,” said Abele.
“We’ve lost 8-5, 8-5 and 10-5 in our last three Varsity Match meetings, but we did beat them in a BUCS League match three weeks ago. That was huge for us and has given us even greater belief going into the game at Twickenham.
“It is going to be the decisive game between us this season because they won the first league game at Grange Road earlier in the season. If we hadn’t beaten them last time out there might have been a few mental hurdles to overcome, but not any more.”
