Cambridge victory tastes so sweet after seven year wait
LARE and Lola Erogbogbo made history on Thursday by becoming the first twins to play in the Varsity Match – and to make it even sweeter, they did it on the winning team as Cambridge ended Oxford’s six-year run at Twickenham.
Both began on the bench with Lola covering the back row and Lare the wing – and it was the latter who made a telling contribution with his offload six minutes from time to set up Rory Triniman for the match-winning try.
With the score level at 13-13 after tries from Mike Phillips for Cambridge and Henry Hughes for Oxford, Erogbogbo collected a neat cross-field kick from Fraser Gillies before offloading in the tackle for Triniman, who showed great strength, to bundle over.
Ed David set up a tense finish by going over late for Oxford, but the Light Blues held on to secure their first win at HQ since 2009.
Cambridge had flyer Charlie Amesbury, who took a two-month sabbatical from Bristol, starting at full-back while prop Will Briggs finally managed to claim a Varsity win after six attempts.
Briggs said: “This is the pinnacle of many of our sporting careers. For me personally, it’s a huge occasion.
“I think we were a more balanced team this year than we ever have been before which made the difference today against a typically tough Oxford side.
“I don’t know what to expect from the celebrations as I've never been in a winning Varsity changing room but it’s a very happy team.”
Despite being under pressure, Oxford opened the scoring after 12 minutes when fly-half Basil Strang slotted a penalty at the second time of asking.
The first-half looked set to end 3-0 before Cambridge centre Phillips intercepted a Strang pass to sprint through under the posts. Gillies duly slotted the conversion to make it 7-3 at the break.
Strang narrowed the gap to one point but Cambridge responded and two from Gillies put them 13-6 in front in the 52nd minute.
Matt Geiger almost brought Oxford back into the game after breaking free down the right wing but he was stopped short of the line by a brilliant covering tackle from the outstanding Amesbury.
Oxford’s first try of the match came after the hour when centre Henry Hughes took advantage of a Cambridge overlap to cross. Strang’s conversion levelled the score but Gillies edged Cambridge back in front with his third penalty of the half before linking up with Erogbogbo and Triniman, who managed to touch down under pressure from two Oxford defenders.
David raced clear down the left wing and scored for Oxford but their last-ditch attack ended with a knockon on half-way to the jubilation of the Cambridge players.
Oxford captain Fergus Taylor said: “We gave it everything and prepared really well this year. We had the opportunities to win that game, but we didn't take them in the first half.
“We took our foot off the pedal in the second half of the first 40 and didn't really turn it on until the last 20 when it was a bit too late.”