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Oriel’s Louis Jackson Captains Dark Blues to Varsity Rugby Victory
Oriel’s Louis Jackson in action
The Dark Blues celebrate their win
5 April 2022
Undergraduate Louis Jackson, the youngest OURFC Varsity Captain in thirty-one years, led his team to victory against 14-man Cambridge in the Varsity Match on Saturday 2nd April.
The Dark Blues arrived at Twickenham ready to defend the title they won in 2021, but faced a strong Cambridge side that included former England international Toby Flood. The match began with an early red card for Cambridge’s Charlie Friend, which coincided with Oxford’s first try (duly converted) after 10 minutes. Cambridge also lost their captain Stephen Leonard to injury in the first half of the match, giving them quite a mountain to climb.
The Oxford side took advantage of Cambridge’s misfortune, with tries from Nick Civetta and Andrew Durutalo in the first half, both converted by David Wilkinson. This gave the Dark Blues a healthy lead of 21-0 as they headed down the tunnel at half time.
Cambridge rallied in the second half, coming back strongly to score their first try of the match (not converted) in the 68th minute to bring the score to 21-5. The Light Blues scored again seconds later, with the conversion attempt hitting the post to take the score to 21-10. Cambridge continued to put the Oxford team under a huge amount of pressure right to the end, with their third try of the match being scored after the 80-minute mark, bringing the match to a close with a final score of 21-17.
Louis, who was also a part of last year’s winning Varsity side, is the first undergraduate to captain the Dark Blues in thirty-one years, which is an impressive achievement. Congratulations to Louis and the rest of the team!