Oxford win opening battle

Oxford started the day as they mean to go on at Twickenham as their U21 outfit ran out 19-11 victors over Cambridge in the pre-cursor to the main event.

The Dark Blues youngsters outscored their Light Blue opponents by three tries to one at the headquarters of English Rugby, with full back Daniel Levene, No8 Ben Girling and left wing John Harkness crossing in the first half.

Seb Foster scored all 11 points for Cambridge courtesy of a well-taken solo effort and a brace of penalties but Oxford were good value for the win.

Levene opened the scoring after only seven minutes, taking the ball just outside the opposition 22 and stepping his way to the line. The St Peter’s College student made the most of a defensive slip before holding off a last-gasp tackle to stretch home.

Levene failed to add the extras to his own score from 12 metres to the right of the posts but Oxford were celebrating the kind of start that would have settled any pre-match nerves.

Cambridge hit back with a try of their own eight minutes later, however, with Foster showing a decent turn of pace and no shortage of power to level the scores.

Like Levene, Foster couldn’t complete the seven-point score from a more straight-forward angle, leaving the game tied at 5-apiece.

It took until past the half-hour mark for the scoreboard to be called into action again when Oxford deservedly regained the lead with a second score.

A clever lineout move saw Girling peel off the back to take the ball on a loop close to the five-metre line before surging down the blindside for a brilliantly-worked try. 

This time Levene slotted the conversion from a more challenging position wide on the right and Oxford found themselves seven points to the good six minutes before the break.

They soon stretched that lead to 14 as a fine break from fly-half William Dace gave Harkness a chance to open up out wide. Having been given a yard or two on the outside of the cover defence, Harkness provided a clinical finish from 35 metres out as Oxford struck for a third time.

Levene’s successful conversion ensured they moved two scores clear and, although Foster closed the gap to 11 with a penalty on the stroke of half-time, the damage had been done.

The second period was a tighter affair but Cambridge never really looked like overturning the substantial deficit.

Foster did add a second penalty seven minutes after the break but two further misses ensured there was no way back for his team as the crowd began to build at HQ.