Fencers pierce through to BUSA championship
Oxford were crowned BUSA fencing champions for 2006 after the men’s first and second teams impressed at the British Universities Sports Association Finals, held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield over the Easter vacation. The first team met St Andrew’s in the final, seeing off rivals Cambridge beforehand. Excellent fencing from both teams culminated in the clinching of the BUSA championship prize.
The event was the conclusion of league matches that took place over the course of Michelmas and Hilary, as well as a series of more recent knock-out encounters. The Oxford first team drew Cambridge - the defending BUSA champions - in the semi-finals, and the match was eagerly awaited, since the Oxford men’s team had lost to Cambridge by one point in the last Varsity match.
This was certainly the most intensely- fought match of the day - Cambridge managed an early lead in the foil, but a superb effort from the three Oxford foilists meant that the final score was a comprehensive Oxford victory of 44-28.
Sabre saw a dramatic surge from Oxford and a close final bout with Oxford’s Paul Taylor (who subsequently won the male Most Valuable Player Award) managing an outstanding six hits on Cambridge captain Danny Ryan, with the final score of 45-44 just favouring Cambridge. Finally, Oxford sealed their victory by winning the epée, producing an overall score of 133-105, a remarkably convincing feat of revenge against the Tabs. The rampant Oxford team then faced St Andrews in the final.
This time, the epée team led, comfortably marching to a 45-41 victory, followed by sabre, in which St Andrews fought back to score an early lead. However, this short-lived rebellion was crushed by Mike Coombes in his second bout, preventing St Andrews from building up any momentum. Paul Taylor sealed the sabre victory against Harry Moncrieff, giving Oxford a lead of 90-82, from which the foil team cruised to a win with the final score 135-112, and confirming Oxford as BUSA Champions.
The Oxford Men’s Second team also fenced well, winning silver in the BUSA Shield competition. They had already beaten many other teams in the season, including the Cambridge second team, but unfortunately lost to the University of London Union team in the final, 113- 135. However, it was a fiercely- contested match, with a particularly valiant effort from Oxford’s Guido Pieles.
Pieles registered an excellent 13 points in the final sabre bout, slashing a deficit of 40- 31 in ULU’s favour to earn Oxford a more respectable loss of 45-44.
27th Apr 2006