Varsity Match 2023: A Clean Sweep For Oxford
07/03/23: Oxford dominated the 2023 Pol Roger Varsity Match at Eton on Saturday, winning all 14 pairs played by a 3-0 margin.
The upper hand in the Varsity Match has always gone back and forth in a cyclical way, but the current period of Oxford dominance is showing no signs of stopping for the time being, with Cambridge still without a win in the men's first team match since 2016 and the women's first team match since 2015.
For the second time in three years, every match played was won 3-0 by Oxford with only one Cambridge pair managing to score more than seven points in any given game. In Cambridge's defence, it has to be said that the 2023 Oxford team would have been a match for most Varsity Match teams from any time in the long history of the match, both in terms of top end quality and depth. The Oxford team also contained great experience, with four postgraduates in their top six, including two former EFA young players of the year and an ex-Cambridge captain. The relative admissions policies of the two universities have not helped Cambridge either in this respect - something which threatens to make the current trend more long-term than cyclical - but nevertheless, and despite the result, this Cambridge team were stronger than some of their recent counterparts and were unlucky to come up against such high level opposition. There is more than enough talent and potential in the Light Blue ranks to raise hopes of a more competitive match next year.
One indication of the current good health of Oxbridge Fives was the addition this year of a third team men's match to accommodate two extra pairs on each side; partly a reflection of two well run clubs but also indicative of the growing willingness to recruit and coach new players from scratch at both universities, moving the match pleasingly away from being the sole preserve of those who went to Fives-playing schools.
Although few of the matches on court were close, there was no lack of interest. The Oxford men's first pair of Hugo Young & Charles Plummer would stand comparison with any of the best pairs to play in this fixture over the decades; the Cambridge duo of Viral Gudiwala (in his sixth and final appearance in the match) & former schools' champion Kosi Nwuba never really had the opportunity to show what they could do. Captain Tom Xu - a hugely improved player this year - and George Poole - one of those who learned his Fives at Cambridge - put up a decent showing at second pair against post grads Ben Hart & Jack Ledigo and Cambridge freshers Jamie Levinson & Freddie Kottler - how great to see players from Westway and Marlborough playing - showed glimpses of what will hopefully be a bright future against ex-Cambridge captain Nick Choustikov & OU Secretary Beau Swallow at third pair.
The gap between the two teams widened the further down the pairs you went, with Oxford's impressive strength in depth too much for the inexperienced Cambridge lower order. The Oxford second team featured previous half-blues in Spencer Chapman (closing in on Nigel Cox's record as the oldest player to take part in the Varsity Match) and Edwin Gosnell as well as ex-Secretary Hatam Barma and two players who reached the latter stages of the U21 tournament a few weeks ago in Cholmeleian Joel Robb and Olavian Aaditya Deshmukh as well as former Westminster first pair plauyer Dan Gore. This formidable line-up made short work of their opponents - Lewis Drummond, Amit Prasad, George Smith, Lasith Siriwardana, Jacob Haddo and Jamie Lai - all of whom showed potential, with three of them having come through the ranks of the vibrant Magdalene College club.
The two additional men's pairs allowed more players to get on court but didn't provide any respite for the Cambridge players as Jonah Poulard & Rohan Tse and Dominic Mcloughlin & Cyril Schroeder made short work of Alex Davies & Nav Madhavan and Aaron Limonard & Nikhil Sehgal respectively.
The pattern of the men's match was pretty much mirrored by the action on the other side of the Eton archway as the Oxford's women team just had a bit too much experience and quality for their Cambridge opponents. First pair saw the current national U25 champion pair of Freya Butler & Jessye Tu in opposition in a repeat of last year's first pair match. It was a case of different year, similar result, though, as Freya & Caro Valensise repeated their comfortable 2022 win over Jessye and Sze-Lynn Yuen. Freya & Caro have nine Varsity match appearances between them but the future of Oxford Fives also looks in good hands with the two first years at second pair - Caro's sister Lorenza & Hannah Davis - combining impressively to cruise past Cambridge captain Alex Davies & Lucy Bland. There was even more experience in pair three with Annie Calderbank playing in her eighth successive Varsity Match (three for Cambridge and now five for Oxford) alongside Dark Blue captain Imi Culhane, and they defeated Emma Spencer & Alice Rothwell for the loss of just three points.
The closest match of the whole day was the first pair of the women's second team match. Uppinghamian Charlotte Bowman is a student at Anglia Ruskin, and therefore not eligible for the top three pairs; along with Rebecca Budgen, therefore, she presented a formidable obstacle to Oxford's chances of a clean sweep, which lay in the hands of Agatha Pethers & Emma Gilbert. The first game was close all the way through, with the Oxford pair finally prevailing 15-12; the experience gained from that first game win allowed them to hone their tactics for the next two, looking to keep the ball away from Charlotte in the buttress and target the left-handed Rebecca's right hand in the back court. The Oxford pair also began to return cut better as the match went on, coming to terms with Charlotte's power; once they began to take points from the cutting of both Cambridge players, the writing was on the wall and Agatha & Emma took control of games two and three to secure the win. Jess Howie has been a stalwart of the team in her time at Oxford and showed exactly how much she has improved in that time, forming an excellent partnership with exciting newcomer Vita Love at second pair. They got into a good cut-returning groove straight away against Rebecca German & Ceri Clarke and were in charge of their match from start to finish. The third pair of the women's second team match is always a curious highlight of any Varsity Match, often featuring players with very little experience. This year's game pitted Oxford's Allison Stuckless (a rare American in the Varsity Match) and squash player Mei Whattam against Cambridge's Lisanne Blok & Saanya Verma. As is often the case in this match, progress was slow, with all four players much more confident and comfortable cutting the ball than returning it. It was the Oxford pair who generally had their noses in front, however, and once they had finally managed to secure the first game after an almost interminable number of gameball attempts, they gained in confidence and stayed in front through to the end, overcoming an early burst of Cambridge scoring at the start of the third game to win in three.
The match was followed by the traditional informal mixed games and then the evening dinner, with the Pol Roger awarded to the winning pairs among a rather less boisterous and more civilised atmosphere than last year and with the accompaniment of a typically idiosyncratic speech by the OUEFC president.
Our thanks go to Eton for hosting the match and the dinner, to Repton for being available to host the match when it was thought Eton would be unavailable and to Pol Roger for their continued and much appreciated sponsorship.
Oxford University v Cambridge University
Eton, Saturday March 4th 2023
Men’s Match: Oxford won 3-0
1. H.Young (St.Hilda’s) & C.Plummer (St.Hugh’s) beat V.Gudiwala (St.John’s) & K.Nwuba (Homerton) 3-0 (12-3, 12-0, 12-2)
2. B.Hart (Kellogg) & J.Ledigo (Trinity) beat T.Xu (Jesus) & G.Poole (Clare) 3-0 (12-7, 12-5, 12-1)
3. N.Choustikov (Mansfield) & B.Swallow (Somerville) beat F.Kottler (Trinity) & J.Levinson (Pembroke) 3-0 (12-2, 12-6, 12-2)
Men’s Second Team Match (Penguins vs Peppers): Oxford won 3-0
1. D.Gore (Brasenose) & E.Gosnell (Lady Margaret Hall) beat L.Drummond (Magdalene) & A.Prasad (Corpus Christi) 3-0 (12-3, 12-4, 12-2)
2. J.Robb (Exeter) & A.Deshmukh (Christ Church) beat L.Siriwardana (St.John’s) & G.Smith (Fitzwilliam) 3-0 (12-2, 12-0, 12-1)
3. S.Chapman (Wycliffe Hall) & H.Barma (Mansfield) beat J.Lai (Magdalene) & J.Haddo (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-0, 12-0, 12-0)
Men’s Third Team Match: Oxford won 2-0
1. J.Poulard (New) & R.Tse (University) beat A.Davies (Pembroke) & N.Madhavan (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-4, 12-5, 12-1)
2. C.Schroeder (St.Edmund Hall) & D.Mcloughlin (Oxford Brookes) beat N.Sehgal (Selwyn) & A.Limonard (St.John’s) 3-0 (12-5, 12-0, 12-1)
Women’s Match: Oxford won 3-0
1. F.Butler (Exeter) & C.Valensise (Pembroke) beat J.Tu (Magdalene) & S-L Yuen (Girton) 3-0 (12-4, 12-3, 12-2)
2. H.Davis (St.John’s) & L.Valensise (New) beat A.Davies (Magdalene) & L.Bland (Robinson) 3-0 (12-2, 12-2, 12-1)
3. A.Calderbank (Oriel) & I.Culhane (Worcester) beat A.Rothwell (Robinson) & E.Spencer (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-3, 12-0, 12-0)
Women’s Second Team Match: Oxford won 3-0
1. E.Gilbert (St.Catherine’s) & A.Pethers (Magdalen) beat C.Bowman (Anglia Ruskin) & B.Budgen (Robinson) 3-0 (15-12, 12-2, 12-6)
2. J.Howie (Exeter) & V.Love (Wadham) beat R.German (Homerton) & C.Clarke (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-3, 12-4, 12-4)
3. A.Stuckless (Exeter) & M.Whattam (Somerville) beat S.Verma (Queens’) & L.Blok (Murray Edwards) 3-0 (12-6, 12-1, 12-7)
Alumni Matches
M.Chinery (O) & W.Betts (O) beat W.Thomas (C) & N.Turnbull (C) 13-10, 12-3
T.Leach (O) & S.Thatcher (O) beat M.Gwynne (C) & P.Frankopan (C) 12-4, 12-3
A.Taylor (C) & B.Wang (C) beat P.Wilkinson (C) & R.Morgan (C) 12-4, 12-3
S.Nowinksi (O) & R.Wood (O) beat S.Woolfries (C) & S.Jackman (O) 12-3
E.Osen (C) & S.Jackman (O) beat S.Woolfries (C) & S.Clifford-King (O) 12-5
S.Thatcher (O) / M.Chinery (O) & T.Leach (O) beat A.Taylor (C) & B.Wang (C) 9-12, 13-11, 15-13
M.Gwynne (C) & P.Frankopan (C) beat S.Nowinksi (O) & R.Wood (O) 12-7
W.Thomas (C) & S.Woolfries (C) beat N.Turnbull (C) & S.Jackman (O) 12-6
E.Osen (C) & R.Morgan (C) beat P.Wilkinson (C) & S.Clifford-King (O) 12-7
W.Betts (O) & S.Clifford-King (O) beat S.Nowinksi (O) & R.Wood (O) 13-10
M.Gwynne (C) & P.Wilkinson (C) drew with E.Osen (C) & R.Morgan (C) 12-14, 12-7
S.Jackman (O) & S.Nowinski (O) beat N.Turnbull (C) & S.Clifford-King (O) 15-12
W.Thomas (C) & R.Wood (C) beat W.Betts (O) & S.Woolfries (C) 12-10
