Blues Battle Of The Paddles
Hard strokes: Oxford players fight against the tide.
This year’s BUSA canoe polo competition, the largest tournament of its kind in the world, was held at Hatfield water park near Doncaster. Oxford entered three teams, a Men’s A team, Ladies A team, and mixed B team. Oxford men’s A had a tough draw, being pooled in a group with arch rivals Cambridge, as well as veterans Nottingham Trent and Sheffield Hallam. Oxford were slow off the mark in their first game against Hallam and conceded a soft goal in the opening minutes.
This was a wake up call and they began to threaten, however they failed to capitalize on any openings and the final score was a 1-0 defeat. The second game against Cambridge A was a highly charged match with the Oxford supporters drowning out the dismal support for Cambridge. The Light Blues however outclassed Oxford despite valiant goal keeping from Nick Smith and the final score was a dismal 7-0 drubbing. In the final game of the group stage Oxford fought hard against Trent.
Unfornately once more Oxford failed to capitalize on the confusion and failed to take the lead. Two decisive goals settled the game and the Nottigham side were the 2-0 victors. Oxford Ladies team also started in a tough group, but went out with all guns blazing in their opening match against Durham. Captain Bethan Jenkins scored a sublime individual goal after only a few minutes, but the Durham side returned fire with an equalizer straight after half time.
Contrevesy marred the final minute of the game as an Oxford goal was ruled out by the match referee who claimed it was scored after the final whistle. In the next match a stong Cambridge side claimed victory despite early Oxford domination as the Blues defence dunked Cambridge captain Vicky Wall twice in quick sucession. Despite a dramatic start Oxford began to tire allowing a more experienced Cambridge team to capitalise.
The final score reflected harshly on Oxford as their arch rivals claimed a 4-0 victory. Oxford University Canoe and Kayak Club enter four varsity competitions each year, with Canoe Polo being just one of them. Currently Oxford Men are level at 1-1, having comprehensively beaten Cambridge in the Whitewater race. Oxford Ladies are trailing 2-0, but confident of success in the upcoming games.
28th Apr 2005