Invincible students country’s best ...
NEIL FISSLER catches up with members of famous Cambridge University Invincibles
The Light Blues of 1961 are the immortals of Varsity sport, the greatest side ever assembled by either University – never before or since has a side from either Oxford or Cambridge managed to go through the Varsity term unbeaten.
But a star-studded Cambridge side including nine young players who would go on to become full internationals pulled off the impossible and became The Invincibles.
They brushed aside full strength first-class teams such as Cardiff, Newport, Gloucester, Leicester, Coventry, Bedford, Harlequins, and Northampton. And after beating Oxford 9-3 at Twickenham their record was played 15 won 15 with 258 points and 52 against.
One of the nine internationals in the side, Trevor Wintle, told The Rugby Paper:“It hadn’t been done before or since, so it was a unique moment that meant a lot to us.We knew we had a fairly talented side but we didn’t really think too much about records.
“I was not long out of school so wasn’t very experienced but I can recall we all just took each game as it came.”
The Dark Blues themselves had five internationals, three of which John Wilcox, Richard Sharp and Peter Stagg would all go on and play for the British Lions.
And another of Cambridge’s internationals, Wales cap Roger Michaelson, points out that for the varsity term academic work was placed on hold.
And to add further spice to the occasion, the game was widely recognised as an extra trial match by international selectors who would be looking ahead to the international season after Christmas.
Michaelson said:“We played twice a week and we trained twice a week.There was very little time for work, you had to catch up afterwards.
“Not many people were studying very much, unless you were Charlie Higham who became a professor and was always working. I’d imagine the others obviously did at various levels but there were that many distractions, most of which were connected to rugby football but, good heavens, it was a great term!
“Because there was only that small frame of matches from the start of term until the Varsity match, the selectors would use it