Varsity Match 2025: Oxford's Winning Run Continues

03/03/25: Oxford maintained their stranglehold on the Pol Roger Varsity Match, winning 13 out of 15 pairs played at Eton on Saturday.

Recent years in this fixture have seen pretty much non-stop Oxford success with only a couple of 2-1 women's second team wins preventing a clean sweep every year since 2016, which was the last time Cambridge won the men's first team match. The Cambridge women's first team last won in 2015.

This headline trend continued at Eton on Saturday as Oxford won all nine men's pairs contested and won both the women's first and second team matches 2-1. Behind the headlines, though, there was plenty to admire on both the Dark Blue and Light Blue sides and the changing face of the Varsity match was very much in evidence.

Once the preserve of a handful of male alumni from the traditional Fives-playing schools, the match has now expanded well beyond these confines. The introduction of the women's match nearly 20 years ago started this process, which accelerated as the women's match expanded to six pairs in 2011, bringing more and more players into the sport at both universities who hadn't played at school and who were coming across Fives for the first time. More recently still, as the number of Oxbridge offers being made to pupils from Fives-playing schools has decreased, the men's teams have increasingly followed suit, with more and more players taking up the game from scratch at university. As a consequence of this, 2025 saw another welcome Varsity match first as the two men's teams played an additional novices match between two pairs who had not played Fives until the start of the 2024/25 academic year (both women's teams having always featured such novice players throughout their teams).

On the men's side, Oxford were coming into the match on a high, having won the EFA Trophy at Eton the weekend before with pretty much the same team, a highly experienced one made up entirely of fourth years and postgraduates. A tough task was made even tougher for Cambridge with two of their top six from last year opting not to play Fives this year and despite their best efforts, none of the top three Cambridge pairs were able to make much of an impact on their Oxford counterparts. At first pair, Wulfrunian Ben Hart & Etonian Beau Swallow - playing in between singles and doubles matches in the Real Tennis Varsity Match at Lord's on the same afternoon - cruised past Cambridge captain Jamie Levinson (the first Varsity Match captain to learn his Fives at Westway) and his predecessor Lewis Drummond. Oxford captain Joel Robb (Highgate) partnered Edwin Gosnell (City of London) to victory at second pair against Luke Maxwell (RGS High Wycombe) & Isaac Gianfrancesco (like Lewis, another graduate of the Magdalene College club) and there was a win for another Old Citizen at third pair, Nick Choustikov and Westminster Jonah Poulard beating Giles Holliday (Salopian and the only fresher in the first team match) and Jamie Lai, a third Cambridge top six player to have started playing at Magdalene.

Oxford's strength in depth could be seen by the presence at fourth pair of Olavian fresher Tommy Farmer, a former U16 national champion, and he and fellow Olavian Aaditya Deshmukh were first to finish, dismissing Alex Davies & Tom Ford for the loss of just three points. Veteran Spencer Chapman was back again at fifth pair, closing in on Nigel Cox's record as the oldest ever Varsity Match player, and he and another Olavian in Rohan Tse defeated Alex Ukrasin & Cholmeleian Albie Gavshon. By far the closest match of the day was the sixth pair match, which saw Luxembourg's greatest ever Eton Fives player Cyril Schroeder team up with Winchester Fives expert Shiloh Wu to win a nail-biter against Olavian Lasith Siriwardana and Citizen Indigo Luksch 3-1, taking two of the four sets 15-14 and finishing in front of the biggest crowd of the day. There was also a fourth pair played in the second team match and another comfortable Oxford victory, Salopian Dominic Mcloughlin and yet another Citizen Gabriel Oldknow winning against Tom Salter & Conor McKenna.

The novices match was awaited with some interest, but proved to be as one-sided as the rest of the match, Oxford's two pairs dominating their Cambridge counterparts under the watchful eye of coach Gwydion Wiseman. It is very much to be hoped that this innovation is continued in future years and it will also be interesting to watch the progress of some of the players involved up through the ranks.

If the men's match was relatively predictable, the women's match was anything but. Oxford had the advantage of the two most experienced players at the top of their order in Freya Butler and Lorenza Valensise, but beyond them it was actually Cambridge who had significantly more experience in the first team match, with Oxford including two beginners this season in their top six and Cambridge able to call on five of last year's first team, several of whom had multiple previous appearances in the Varsity Match to their name. It was Cambridge who got off to the better start, with captain Lucy Bland & Alex Davies flying out of the blocks at first pair, winning the first game 12-4 against a slightly shell-shocked Freya & Rachel McCormack. Freya was playing her sixth Varsity match and had never previously conceded more than 5 points in a single game, far less lost one and it is to her and Rachel's credit that they regrouped quickly, Rachel tightening her game up and improving her set piece and Freya starting to dominate proceedings. The Oxford pair won the next two games comfortably and despite a Cambridge rally in the fourth, Freya & Rachel ran out 3-1 winners.

Cambridge also got off to a good start at second pair, which was a close from start to finish. Cholmeleian Lorenza Valensise was partnering Rachel Turner for Oxford, a very talented player but a very inexperienced one playing in her first ever competitive match and they were up against former Universities Mixed champion Emilia Collinson and former Cambridge captain Emma Spencer. This was a fascinating match with Lorenza trying hard to impose herself on the Cambridge pair, Rachel doing her best to provide support and stay in the rallies and the Cambridge pair cutting well and looking to exploit Rachel's inexperience as much as possible. All three games were close, with the first reaching 9-9, Oxford getting 11-9 and then 13-11 ahead in the second and the third also going to 10-10. All three ended up being won by the Cambridge pair, though, their cutting the key factor with Emilia's power and Emma's placement just doing enough and stopping the Oxford pair from creating sufficient scoring opportunities, especially in the key closing stages of each game.

The outcome of the first team match was therefore decided at third pair and here Oxford had a trump card in the shape of captain Vita Love, who had held herself back at third pair for precisely this reason. She teamed up with another talented novice in Dill Lamming, an excellent all-round court game player and they were too strong for Alice Rothwell & Anna Fitzpatrick, winning in straight games, although the Cambridge pair did get close in the third.

The second team match also went Oxford's way 2-1. Dark Blue postgraduates Julia Schaub & Mimi Nicholson (who played a little bit at Emanuel School once upon a time) have been practising hard and were rewarded with an impressively convincing victory at fifth pair over Anjali Mistry & Maja Marzec. The match was levelled up at sixth pair, where four extremely inexperienced players produced what in the circumstances was a very high-quality match indeed. It was the Cambridge pair of Ursula Hall & Juliana Murphy who got the upper hand at the set piece, however, and their cutting and returning left the Oxford pair of Rachie Ing & Georgie Walker unable to keep up on the scoreboard. The second team match was decided in slightly odd fashion at fourth pair. Initially it all looked pretty straightforward as Oxford's Darcy Clarke & Eleonore Thiriet won the first two games 12-10 and 12-8 against Tamara Fifield & Georgie Van Dyke. In the third game, though, the momentum suddenly shifted as Cambridge roared out to an 8-0 lead. Back in the match surely? Sadly not, as at that point the Cambridge pair announced that they were going to have to concede the match as one of them had a train to catch to be able to get to a ball in the evening. A disappointing way to end what was shaping up to be a very interesting match.

The usual informal mixed matches were then followed by a slightly unusual but very enjoyable version of the Varsity Match dinner. Eton very kindly allowed the use of Upper Club as a venue but weren't able to provide catering this year. Instead your correspondent and the senior member of the Oxford side headed down Eton High Street to fill the car to bursting point with about 50 pizzas from Don Beni, which were swiftly dispatched before the winning pairs were presented with their bottles of Pol Roger.

Our thanks go to Eton and Ryan Perrie for hosting the match and the dinner, to Pol Roger for their valued sponsorship and to the four club captains who put in a lot of hard work over the course of the season to make it such an enjoyable and successful day.

Oxford names first

Women’s Match: Oxford won 2-1

1. F.Butler (University) & R.McCormack (Christ Church) beat A.Davies (Magdalene) & L.Bland (Selwyn) 3-1 (4-12, 12-5, 12-3, 12-8)

2. R.Turner (University) & L.Valensise (New) lost to E.Collinson (Girton) & E.Spencer (Magdalene) 0-3 (9-12, 13-14, 11-15)

3. D.Lamming (Exeter) & V.Love (Green Templeton) beat A.Rothwell (Robinson) & A.Fitzpatrick (Queens’) 3-0 (12-6, 12-3, 12-9)

Women’s Second Team Match: Oxford won 2-1

1. D.Clarke (Oxford Brookes) & E.Thiriet (Christ Church) beat T.Fifield (Murray Edwards) & G.Van Dyke (Christ’s) 3-0 (12-10, 12-8, 0-8 ret)

2. J.Schaub (Nuffield) & A.Nicholson (St.Stephen’s House) beat A.Mistry (Homerton) & M.Marzec (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-0, 12-6, 12-5)

3. G.Walker (Magdalen) & R.Ing (St.John’s) lost to U.Hall (Magdalene) & J.Murphy (Gonville & Caius) 0-3 (6-12, 0-12, 5-12)

Men’s Match: Oxford won 3-0

1. B.Hart (Kellogg) & B.Swallow (Somerville) beat J.Levinson (Pembroke) & L.Drummond (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-2, 12-1, 12-2)

2. E.Gosnell (Lincoln) & J.Robb (Exeter) beat L.Maxwell (Gonville & Caius) & I.Gianfrancesco (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-6, 12-2, 12-2)

3. N.Choustikov (Oriel) & J.Poulard (New) beat G.Holliday (Homerton) & J.Lai (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-3, 12-9, 12-4)

Men’s Second Team Match (Penguins vs Peppers): Oxford won 4-0

1. T.Farmer (St.Peter’s) & A.Deshmukh (Christ Church) beat A.Davies (Pembroke) & T.Ford (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-1, 12-1, 12-1)

2. R.Tse (University) & S.Chapman (Wycliffe Hall) beat A.Ukrasin (Hughes Hall) & A.Gavshon (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-5, 12-2, 12-5)

3. S.Wu (St.Hilda’s) & C.Schroeder (St.Edmund Hall) beat L.Siriwardana (St.John’s) & I.Luksch (Trinity) 3-1 (15-11, 15-14, 8-12, 15-14)

4. D.Mcloughlin (Oxford Brookes) & G.Oldknow (Somerville) beat T.Salter (Magdalene) & C.McKenna (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-6, 12-2, 12-6)

Men’s Novices Match: Oxford won 2-0

1. B.Murphy (St.Anne’s) & A.Adamson (Pembroke) beat I.Sparke (Pembroke) & J.Cameron (Magdalene) 3-0 (12-0, 12-2, 12-0)

2. M.Massey (Exeter) & A.Nagler (Lady Margaret Hall) beat H.Phillips (Christ’s) & W.Krohn (Churchill) 3-0 (12-4, 12-3, 12-0)