Oxford Tie the Kangaroos Down
IT WAS BILLED as the match of the year, thousands of tickets were sold, new stands put up and a celebrity announcer hired. Surely the match between Oxford and Australia could not live up to such a billing.
Of course it could. It was simply a fantastic game. Australia, for the record, won 52-27 but that was not so important. What mattered on this occasion was the performance, a chance for the team to test themselves against the world champions.
Australia's play was great, we knew it would be, but so was Oxford's. Dogged, determined, brilliant in the tackle, gigantic in the lineout and incisive in the attack. This must rank as their best performance of the season, that 58-point destruction of Bristol included.
Cynics might say that Australia did not play their full side, but those that took the field in green and gold could count over 150 caps between them. To take on and match for so much of the game a professional opposition calling on so much experience was a great achievement.
Oxford played some magnificent rugby in all areas of the field and although there may have been an element of fortune in two of their tries, one cannot deny the skill involved in their conversion nor the fact that they were deserved.
Oxford started brightly with Will Ellerby running at the Australian corner three times in the first ten minutes, only to be stopped within sight of the line.
The Wallabies showed their potential for the first time on nine minutes when Chris Whitaker was somehow brought down when it seemed that his charge to the line would end in success. Oxford won a penalty and cleared their lines. The quality of this tackling set the tone for the afternoon.
On twelve minutes, despite a hint of offside, the Australian full back, Chris Latham ran in at the corner after a cleverly worked overlap.
Oxford retaliated just three minutes later with a penalty but could not prevent Scott Staniforth of New South Wales scoring a try on twenty minutes.
Oxford regrouped and put some strong pressure on the Wallabies' lines, but the visitors reasserted superiority two minutes before the interval with another try. On the stroke of half time, came the break Oxford were looking for.
Within sight of Oxford's line Graeme Bond dropped the ball. Will Rubie snapped it up and headed for the Australian line. Accelerating away he eluded all his pursuers and ran in under the post. This left the Blues within touching distance at half time, trailing 10-17.
Early in the second half, it seemed the floodgates might open. Within eight minutes the World Champions had raced into a 31-13 lead, scoring two tries with only Seb Fitzgerald's drop goal in reply.
Oxford came back hard, however, and took on the Australian forwards at their own game; sheer determination and persistent strength carrying Kevin Tkachuk over the line.
On sixty-four minutes, there came a point when it seemed Oxford might even snatch a victory. Dan Taberner intercepted an Australian pass and sprinted sixty yards to dive in.
Oxford were within four points of the champions. It was not, however, to be. Australia's fitness and professional experience told as they ran in three tries in the last ten minutes to give the final score a slightly flattering edge.
Make no mistake, this was not the Australian team that will run out at Twickenham next weekend, but their quality and experience were still immense. For Oxford to tackle so well for so long and score three tries was no mean feat.
Despite the home side losing, the massive crowd could not have expected any greater effort from the team. It is not everyday that players get to play against, or spectators get to watch, a world championship squad, and the fact is that they were simply superb.
They cannot, however, have failed to be impressed by the team they faced, a team whose confidence will justifiably be sky high for the contests to come.
The Times
The Dark Blues played with no little skill and kept 5,500 supporters on their toes against an Australia side that drew away only in the final ten minutes.
Rubie, little legs twinkling, will dine out on the day he left Ben Tune trailing in his wake as he ran in the first of Oxford's three tries from 95 metres.
The work in the loose of their tight forwards was outstanding and was reflected in the award to Simon Miall of the man-of-the-match award for his side.
The Guardian
To nobody's surprise yesterday, the world champions gave the students a taste of professional reality - but not before being reminded that brain can still give well-organised brawn a run for its money.
Though a packed Twickenham on Saturday will provide the tourists with a very different challenge, England could do worse than try to match Oxford's swarming defence, splendid commitment and ceaseless effort.
The length-of-the-field sprint that saw Rubie burn off Tune in one of the more memorable races seen at Iffley Road since Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile, justly rewarded the Dark Blues' early inventiveness and spirit.
8th Nov 2001