The clocking is ticking before the second Women’s Varsity Match at Twickenham on Thursday, 8 December, but the two teams will get an early chance to check each other out when they clash in the BUCS Premier South next week.
The match at Grange Road, Cambridge on Wednesday, 2 November, will be crucial for both sides as they attempt to hang onto their top flight league status. Oxford have picked up one win to date, while Varsity Match champions Cambridge have lost all three to date.
It was another tough week for the two teams against two of the top sides in the country as Catherine Wilcock’s Dark Blues were beaten 82-6 at home by the reigning champions Cardiff Met and Alice Middleton’s gallant Light Blues went down 92-0 in Topsham against Exeter University a week after their 72-0 defeat in Cardiff.
Oxford may have lost the Varsity Match at the home of England rugby last year, but they gained revenge in their BUCS home match against their arch-rivals with a 3-0 triumph in April to pick up their second win of the campaign.
Despite the high score against Cardiff Met, Oxford coach Gary Street, who masterminded the English women’s World Cup success in 2014, remains happy with the progress his side is making and believes the game at Grange Road will help both teams as they prepare for the big day our at Twickenham.
“The teams we are playing against in the BUCS Premier League have players who have played for England and Wales competitively at age group levels. We know where we stand and, by comparison, we are trying to teach our players how to play the game,” said Oxford coach Street.
“We are realistic about where we stand and our game is to be competitive in the games where we think we’ve got a chance of winning and try to build some resilience and self-confidence in the others.
“The game at Cambridge next week will be good for both teams and we really want it to be a spectacle. After we had played them at Twickenham last year the second game was better for it.
“They ran away with it a bit in the Varsity Match towards the end because they had a stronger bench, but we have more players this year and we are better organised. This game will give both of us the chance to have a look at each other and it will help make Twickenham an even better occasion.”
Street was delighted to be invited to stay on as coach for this season and had no hesitation in continuing the good work of last year. The impact of the women’s Varsity Match being played at Twickenham, as well as the advent of sevens rugby being played at the Rio Olympics, has captured the imagination of female players across the two seats of learning.
“It is the first time for a while that the coaching team has been the same for two successive seasons and it means we are starting in a different place. This time last year we were telling the girls that ‘this is a rugby ball and you have to pass it backwards’,” explained Street.
“We had 143 girls sign-up for rugby at the Freshers Fair and we took 25 players on a 10 day pre-season training camp. They’ve all been playing the game for 12 months so, instead teaching them to pass backwards and to learn the laws of the game, we are working on tactical shape.
“The difference about where we are now compared to a year ago is huge. The incentive of playing at Twickenham is fantastic, but the truth is that we had players last year who played in the Varsity Match within nine weeks of picking up a rugby ball.
“One of them our full back Sophie Trott, has turned into a fantastic player for us. She had only played for four weeks before she won her Blue.”
Oxford still lead in the overall series, but have lost the last two Varsity Matches, both in 2015, by big margins – 47-0 and 52-0. Wilcock is hoping it will be third time lucky for her during her reign as the Dark Blues skipper, and Street believes it will be a much tighter contest in December.
“This year we have 12 months experience of playing and coaching together and I think it is going to be a much more competitive game. What happened last year is a real motivation for us – it always is when you lose in such a big game,” said Street.
But we had that motivation going into the second game against Cambridge at home last season when we won a tense thriller 3-0. But while the Varsity Match is obviously very important, we are also determined to ensure the girls gain as much enjoyment as possible from the season as a whole and to see participation increase.”
“I am loving it here – they are a great bunch of girls. The buzz I get from coaching is in seeing players develop and we see improvements session by session.”
Oxford and Cambridge go head-to-head in their pre-Varsity Match, BUCS Premier South clash at Grange Road next Wednesday 2 November, 2.00pm kick-off.
The 35th Women’s Varsity Match and second-ever at Twickenham takes place on Thursday 8 December ahead of the 135th Men’s Varsity Match. Tickets from £28 adults and £10 students are available now.
