Blues v Champs
In a press conference following Oxford's impressive display against the Australians on Sunday, Australian Coach Eddie Jones warned Cambridge that they will have their work cut out on the 11th November if Oxford can recapture the same level of performance.
A huge crowd of 5 500 saw Oxford get to within four points with 15 minutes to go before the Australians made use of their awesome subs bench, including such players as George Smith, Owen Finnegan and Nathan Grey, to put the game out of reach.
Oxford's Captain Brett Robinson, himself a former Australian international, said that Oxford's game plan had been to simply enjoy the occasion: 'I wanted each player to know that they had given their best'.
With Oxford so close to the Australians, Robinson admitted that he thought they had a chance, but accepted the dominance of Australia throughout the match: 'Essentially we were just living off scraps, but we were aggressive and held a good pattern in defence.'
Jones also praised Oxford's defensive efforts: 'Oxford were exceptional at the breakdown. I'm worried about their academic studies - they obviously spend too long practising rugby.'
Robinson accepted that his team inevitably had to concentrate on defence but praised his players for taking their chances well.
Oxford Director of Rugby Steve Hill praised his side for coping so well with the Australians, 'we stood up extremely well to some six, seven, eight phase plays and some of the things we tried with the ball in hand really came off.'
Although Matt Cockbain, the Australian skipper for this game, was disappointed with his team's performance, Eddie Jones was still optimistic about Australia's prospects against England on Saturday.
'We've trained very hard in our first week in England and most of these players won't be turning out against England on Saturday. The effort we showed was very good today, our performance will be significantly better in seven days time.'
Jones also praised the crowd for creating such a unique atmosphere, saying it was good to play games against traditional sides in smaller stadia where it's possible to hear everything the crowd says.
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8th Nov 2001