The 110th Annual Varsity Match was held in Cambridge at Fenners Gallery, Kelsey Kerridge Sports Centre on Saturday 24th February 24, 2007

On 12th February 2005, the 108th Annual Varsity Match was held in Cambridge.

The final scores were:

The Teams were:

Captain's thoughts the day before varsity

The Women have already beaten Oxford in two BUSA tournament matches this season; one last weekend and the other in November. We have a number of new Blues in our squad but all have shown their class as we were undefeated and easily won BUSA Premier League South this year. So I believe we have the quality to win our third Varsity Match in a row.
Georgie Osborne

The Men's Blues, BUSA Team Champions for the last three years and undefeated Premier League winners this year, are confident about winning the Varsity Match this Saturday. The squad has an unprecedented number of internationals in first team and all are looking to maintain their record as the most feared fencing team in the country. Oxford have been beaten twice already this season and their 135-68 defeat last Wednesday in BUSA should be fresh in their minds.
Matt O'Connell

Report for the matches:

This years' Varsity Fencing Match 'swashbuckled' its way into the Cambridge Union on Saturday. The Debating Chamber was transformed into a Gladiatorial Amphitheatre, where for one day only, all the arguments in that famous room would be settled... with swords.

Women's Blues
The Women's Blues Epee team of India Martin, Jennifer Semon and Mika Tomzak got the 108th Varsity Match underway but suffered a narrow defeat, 45-36, to an impressive Oxford team. Cambridge heads did not drop however, and Kyle Trieber, Jenn Semon and Anna Scaife seized the initiative in Sabre. They rattled through, winning every bout, to move the team into an 8 hit lead (45-28). Anna Robinson, ably backed up by Chie Kobayashi and Carmen Pinto-Ward, led her team to a 45-15 trouncing of Oxford in the Foil. Such a score line would be embarrassing if inflicted on anyone else but 'The Other Place'. Robinson, a British U-20 International who was deputising as Captain in place of the injured Georgie Osborne, said she was "relieved and excited" to lead her team to success. She added that the result was reward for everyone's hard work throughout the season. The overall score was 126-88 to the Blues and chalked up their third Varsity win in as many years.

Women's Cuthroats
The Women's Cutthroats had not won their tie since 2001 and with many new caps in their team no one was expecting an upset. Stephanie Langton performed well in her first Varsity as did Katy Metcalfe (who admittedly did have some experience behind her from her time in the Northern Ireland U-18 team). Veteran Lynn Hutchings was solid all day, only dropping 3 hits. She anchored the team home to a 45-28 win. The Epee team consisted of Emma Foster and our two Pentathletes Nicky and Ailanore. A 45-40 victory seems close but was nevertheless impressive given that these three had never fenced together before.

Men's Cuthroats
The Epeeiests were drawn to fence first. Chris, Peter, Gianluca and super-sub Tim had the audience on the edge of their seats but eventually pulled out a 45-42 victory. Foil was an absolute debacle. Cambridge lost 45-9 which realistically put pay to their chances of winning the overall tie. The team was inexperienced and none of them had fenced in Varsity before so we hope next year will be different. The Sabreurs had a solid match. Sub Chris Jones fenced well on his debut and the usual team of Nick and Pip and Stuart did nothing wrong but the 45-32 victory was too little too late.

Men's Blues
The Men's Blues faced their toughest test in a decade. After suffering heavy defeats in the last few Varsity Matches, Oxford made sure that they bolstered their ranks with some Junior Internationals being recruited. However, the Blues trio of GB U-20 Internationals; Danny Ryan, Matt O'Connell and Robin Allen romped home to a 45-26 win in Sabre giving Cambridge the perfect start. The speed and aggression showed by the Blues was at times breathtaking and had the crowd baying for Oxford blood.
Cambridge had lost for the last three years in the foil event but the Light Blues were eager to reverse this trend. A solid performance from Rob Shaw in his opening bout was trumped by the 'Man of the Match' Greg Hodder, who raised his game immeasurably for his three matches. Hodder effectively neutralised the Oxford resistance giving away little in his final bout. It was then left to Trinity's Dom O'Mahony to defeat Taylor 5-2 in the final Foil fight to keep Cambridge on track for the Varsity Shield. Epee saw two new faces in the side with Chris Greensides and Eamon McGrattan making their Varsity debuts. Greensides' unique style posed numerous problems for the opposition and the Blues soon opened up a 10 point lead. This Irish double act of McGrattan and Adair consolidated this lead and Cambridge had mathematically won the Varsity Match by the end of the fourth fight. In the final bout Adair eased the Blues home to a 45-29 victory to cap a memorable day for Cambridge Sport. The final score of 135-93 did not fully reflect the domination of the Blues throughout the day. GDBO.

Thanks go to the Cambridge Union and their President Alasdair Ross for hosting this year's Varsity Match. Thanks to Graham Stretton who coached the Cambridge teams all day and gave valuable advice to our fencers. Also thanks to the President of British Fencing, Keith Smith, for Presiding throughout day and to Graham Forster of Uhlmann UK for Presiding and supplying all the scoring apparatus and metallic pistes. Thanks to all the supporters who came to watch, whether Old Blues or new to the sport. Thanks to Robinson College and their staff for hosting the Dinner on Saturday night and finally thanks to Oxford for travelling to Cambridge and proving such worthy opponents.

by Mark Adair

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