It was a tough night at the office for both Blues teams as Fergus Taylor’s Oxford University were beaten 50-0 by Northampton Wanderers and Charlie Amesbury’s Cambridge side went down 50-0 to Trinity College, Dublin.
Both teams conceded eight tries as their defences were stretched to breaking point. At Grange Road, the Light Blues never recovered by conceding two tries in the opening six minutes to visiting lock and skipper Jack Burke.
By half-time the Irish university, who play in the All Ireland League Division 1A, had built a 24-0 lead by adding two more tries. There were four more after the break with the game rounded off with a forward rumble in the 80th minute to reach the half-century mark.
There was a minute’s silence before the game as both teams paid their respects to Munster and Ireland’s Anthony Foley, who died at the weekend ahead of his side’s Champions Cup opener against Racing 92 in Paris.
Meanwhile, at Iffley Road, Taylor’s Dark Blues were facing their second Aviva Premiership side in succession and were hit by a hat-trick from winger Tom Collins – one of eight Saints players registered to play in the Champions Cup.
There was plenty of dogged defence against the fully professional outfit, who had beaten Wasps A 45-10 in their last outing, and a Henry Hughes break almost led to a try in the first half, while the game ended with Oxford being held up over the Northampton line.
As at Cambridge, Oxford were 24-0 in arrears at the break having conceded four tries. Back row man Lewis Ludlam got the scoreboard moving with the opening try after four minutes and then lock Jordan Onojaif followed suit five minutes later.
Collins then got the first of his hat-trick on the half hour and Tongan international centre Nafi Tuitavakae grabbed the fourth touchdown of the half. After the break Collins completed his hat-trick, former Wales Under 20 back row man Sion Bennett got another and wing Howard Packman continued his rich vein of scoring form.
There were five conversions to go with the eight tries, four from the boot of Sam Olver and one from James Grayson, as the score reached the half-century. It was, however, an improvement on the 74-10 defeat suffered by Oxford in the same fixture two years ago.
Northampton are due to travel to Cambridge to test the Light Blues on Monday, 24 October, while Taylor and his men will be heading to Zagreb this weekend to take on Croatia in an international fixture. They beat the Croatians 41-5 last season.
Oxford University: Matt Geiger*; Dan Barley, Henry Hughes*, Alex Hogg, Tom Stileman*; Basil Strang*, Henry de Berker*; Kieran Ball*, William Thornton, Hugo Lu, Fergus Taylor* (captain), Andrew Grant, George Blomfield, Nic Roberts-Huntley*, James Beaufils
Reps: Noah Miller, James Scaife, Lewis Anderson*, Jonathan Marsden, Ollie Adams, Hugo McPherson, Tom Kershaw, Dylan McGagh, Tom Dyer
* Blue
Cambridge University: Charlie Ambesbury (captain); Henry King, Rory Triniman, Mike Phillips*, Simon Davies*; Fraser Gillies*, Seb Tullie*; Will Briggs*, Fionn Dillon Kelly, Jonny Dixon, Andrew Hunter, Lola Erogbogbo*, Henry Rose, Paddy Harlow, Richard Bartholomew*
Reps: Simon Hugkulstone, William Dean, Demitri Moros, Rowan Beckett, Jono Gould, Chris Bell, Ed Clough, Lare Erogbogbo, George Griffiths
* Blue
The 135th Varsity Match and The 30th Women’s Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge will return to Twickenham on Thursday 8th December. Adult tickets from £28 and student tickets from £10 are on sale now alongside a range of corporate hospitality options and events.
