Flying Kirk comes down to earth in Varsity upset

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful What's happening here?

It’s December 8, 1987 and Oxford University’s star scrum-half David Kirk is scoring the Dark Blues’ solitary try in their 15-10 defeat against Cambridge University at Twickenham. What’s the story behind the picture?

In a sentence this is all about the enduring rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge and the uniqueness of a fixture that can see a World Cup hero finish as an also-ran just months later.

Earlier that year Kirk had been lifting the inaugural World Cup for New Zealand in Auckland having captained the All Blacks to victory over France in the final, but on this cold December afternoon he was left licking his wounds by a bunch of students.

To set the scene a little. Cambridge had been dominant in the first part of the decade winning five Varsity matches on the trot which was both frustrating for the Dark Blues and wounding to the fixture as a spectacle.

Oxford reacted by once again trying to entice a few rugby playing Rhodes Scholars from the ‘Colonies’, a traditional recruiting ground and enjoyed the encouragement of two wins in 1985 and 1986 but Cambridge were beginning to build again. Looking to the 1987 game they were going to have the emerging homegrown British talent of Rob Wainwright, Mike Hall, Fran Clough and Chris Oti – all future internationals – in the pipeline plus assorted stalwart players. Game on.

Oxford countered with the startling announcement that All Black skipper Dave Kirk would be coming to Worcester College for two years and would augment a squad that would also include Aussie full-back Rob Egerton – a future World Cup winner– silky smooth Ireland and Lions centre Brendan Mullin, massive Aussie lock Bill Campbell and classy Australia flanker Bill Calcraft who would skipper the side. Interest in the game grew to new heights. This was the start of possibly the last golden era of Varsity matches. What happened next?

Kirk, whose rugby in the build-up had been limited by a niggling knee injury, was given an uncomfortable afternoon behind a retreating pack by his opposite number Mike Hancock. Now Hancock was a thoroughly competent scrum-half who went on to enjoy a fine career with Nottingham but few would consider him a world beater. On this day though – a game and occasion that would have loomed large in his psyche from the moment Kirk’s arrival had been announced – he was superb. Why is this picture iconic?

Context is important here although in its own right this is a brilliant action shot of a player who for two or three years was the face of New Zealand rugby and the dive is a trademark Kirk flourish. He was lethal around the base of the scrum and used to launch himself from a long way out on occasions.

But in truth it was a defiant gesture in defeat, his efforts were in vain. Kirk, by his own standards, had a pretty poor match on the day in a game played at 100mph without any hint of the structure he was used to. The star-studded Oxford side, massive favourites, were downed 15-10.

Now consider the year. 1987. A few months earlier had seen the most controversial Boat Race in history. After losing their first Boat Race in 11 years in 1986, Oxford had recruited a handful of the best oarsman in the USA – Olympians and World champions – and vowed in the words of Chris Clark, an American in the vanquished 1986 crew, to return and kick some ass next year.

To cut a long story short it did not work out. The Americans were incredibly talented but very difficult and high maintenance. The Oxford way was not the American way, there was more monotonous off the water fitness work than they cared for and they didn’t seem to quite get the mystique of locking horns with Cambridge.

The American clique staged a mutiny and were eventually thrown out of the squad but then, would you believe it, the homegrown and underrated Oxford reserves stepped up and beat an extremely strong Cambridge Eight.

All this was playing in the background that day at Twickenham a few months later when Kirk and the other Oxford Galacticos were forced to eat humble pie. Galacticos don’t always fit in and make the difference. They don’t guarantee victory.

Footnote. Kirk was a brilliant player and a Kiwi to boot. He would not let that happen again, over his dead body. He knew his two-year course at Oxford would effectively end his Test career and had big plans for a future, out in the real world, but there was no way he would allow his rugby life to finish on that downbeat note.

The following season he whipped Oxford into shape with further reinforcements arriving in speedy Wallabies wing Ian Williams and another Aussie, who also played for Ireland, fly-half Brian Smith.

This time there was no mistake as 54,000 flocked to Twickenham to watch a 27-7 Oxford win, an attacking masterclass against a Cambridge side that on paper were even stronger than the previous season. Honour had been restored, personally for Kirk, and collectively for the big names. The Varsity match is not a box to be ticked, it’s a game to be won.