Dark Blues set for hard Varsity challenge

TOM Osborne ended up a winner at Twickenham in last season’s Varsity match, but the Aussie prop who will lead Oxford into the 141st ‘Battle of the Blues’ on Saturday didn’t experience the pleasure he thought he would from beating Cambridge.

The Light Blues ended up playing with 14 men for 70 minutes following the dismissal of lock Charlie Friend and were 21-0 behind by the break. The stage seemed set for a big Oxford win, but it never happened.

“It was a really flat feeling at the end last year. We had a lot of talent in our side with four international players in the pack,” said loose head prop Osborne.

“Yet we just did the bare minimum to win the game 20-17 and failed to work as hard as we could have.”

Move forward 12 months and the roles will be reversed with Cambridge as the hot favourites to end two years of Dark Blue dominance. Osborne is the first to admit his young side will be up against it, but this time he is relishing the chance to go to Twickenham without any pressure.

“Technically, tactically and philosophically we have learned a lot this season and the only pressure we’ve put on ourselves is to improve. We will go to Twickenham with nothing to lose and hoping to play to our full potential”

Cambridge warmed up for the big day with a comprehensive 45-0 win over Crawshay’s Welsh in the first Eddie Butler memorial match and have picked up some good wins throughout the season.

They may be without skipper Toby Flood, the former England outside half still recovering from his broken leg against the Steele-Bodger’s XV, but will have England U20 and Harlequins play-maker Jamie Benson pulling the strings at No 10.

Acting captain Ben Gompels will have six former Blues in his starting XV, among them back row man Stephen Leonard who will be making his sixth appearance, while Osborne is one of five.

The women’s match will kick-off the Jeffries presents The Varsity Matches event with Oxford favourites to notch their first win since 2016 having twice beaten their arch-rivals in the BUCS competition.