Twickenham hosts Women鈥檚 Varsity rugby for the first time tomorrow.

It鈥檚 generating quite a buzz that we鈥檙e going to Twickenham... I鈥檓 hoping it will encourage more people to try out the sport and see how much fun it can be.

Women's Varsity Captain Nikki Weckman

Tomorrow will see history made on Twickenham Stadium鈥檚 hallowed turf as it hosts the Women鈥檚 Varsity Match for the first time.

探花直播match, which has alternated between Oxford 探花直播's Iffley Road and Cambridge's Grange Road stadiums for the past 27 years, will kick off at Twickenham at 11:30am.

Captain Nikki Weckman said: 鈥 探花直播switch to Twickenham Stadium is immensely important because it really puts women鈥檚 rugby on a much bigger, much more visible platform for people who are interested in the sport, or who want to try out women鈥檚 rugby.

鈥淪peaking to students, male and female, it鈥檚 generating quite a buzz that we鈥檙e going to Twickenham this year. So I鈥檓 hoping it will encourage more people to try out the sport and see how much fun it can be. 鈥

She paid tribute to previous team captains who had pushed for the move. 鈥 探花直播captains and presidents of the past several years have really been the driving force behind the move to Twickenham, but it wouldn鈥檛 have happened without the support of the club and our sponsors.鈥

Cambridge's women will be looking to build on the 47-0 victory over Dark Blues at Grange Road earlier this year in the 28th meeting of the two teams. 探花直播Cambridge side also boasts President of the first Women's Boat Race crew to race on the Tideway last year, Caroline Reid, as a winger.听

But Weckman remains cautious, particularly as Oxford鈥檚 new coach Gary Street led England Women to their first rugby World Cup title last year. 鈥淲e came out very well in the last match but it is a new year, a new team and Oxford have a wonderful coach this year who I know will be driving them hard so the last thing I want to do is underestimate them,鈥 Weckman said.

鈥淏ut I have full confidence in our team because of the effort that they鈥檝e been putting in. Our last match we won 117-nil, which was a nice confidence boost.

鈥淏ut the Varsity Match is the biggest match. Academically Oxford and Cambridge have always challenged each other and it鈥檚 the same in sports. That鈥檚 the big challenge 鈥 to prove yourself better than 探花直播Other Place.鈥

探花直播men鈥檚 鈥楤attle of the Blues鈥 tomorrow (kick-off 2:30pm) will see Wales and British and Irish Lions centre Jamie Roberts become the first current international to play in the Varsity Match since Dan Vickerman in 2009.

Roberts, who is studying for an MPhil in Medical Science (Surgery), will be joined by first-time Blues Simon Davies, Oliver Clough, Dave Spelman, Ian Nagle and James Kilroe as Cambridge bids to deny Oxford a record sixth successive win.

Vice-Chancellor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz听will be among the crowd at Twickenham cheering on the Blues.

探花直播Women鈥檚 Varsity Match kicks off at 11:30am. 探花直播Varsity Match (men鈥檚) kicks off at 2:30pm. Live coverage of the Women鈥檚 Match will be streamed on . 探花直播Varsity Match (men鈥檚) will be screened live on BBC2 from 2pm-4.30pm. For further details, see .

  • Update: Cambridge won the Women's Varsity Match 52-0 with tries by Alice Middleton,听Anna Wilson, Lara Gibson and听Chloe Withers. Oxford won the Varsity Match (men's) 12-6. Cambridge听Women鈥檚 Varsity听captain Nikki Weckman said after the match: "We were expecting Oxford to put up a pretty big fight and they did. What we weren鈥檛 expecting was to put so many points on the board!听All the hard work everyone put in, in every training session 鈥 they really pulled it out today.鈥

Fact file

  • This is the 29th Women鈥檚 Varsity Match and the 134th men鈥檚 Varsity Match听
  • Cambridge has won 2 out of the past 5 Women鈥檚 Varsity Matches.
  • Oxford has won the past five Varsity Matches (men鈥檚) but Cambridge has recorded five wins in a row on three separate occasions, 1972-76, 1980-84 and 1994-98.
  • No side has ever won six Varsity Matches in a row.
  • 探花直播women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 university clubs merged to form one club under Cambridge 探花直播 Rugby Union Football Club in 2013.
  • 探花直播Women鈥檚 Varsity Match team 2015: Ciara Scott (Pembroke), Jessica Charlton (Newnham), Tamsin Banner (Girton), Laura Nunez-Mulder (Emmanuel), Nikki Weckman (Trinity), Alice Elgar (Girton), Chloe Withers (Fitzwilliam), Hannah Cooper (Fitzwilliam), Lydia Thorn (Corpus Christi), Clare Donaldson (Clare), Caroline Reid (Jesus), Anna Wilson (Jesus), Emily McNally (St Edmund鈥檚), Lara Gibson (Lucy Cavendish), Alice Middleton (Lucy Cavendish), Ayala Donegan (Girton), Lucy Sutcliffe (Murray Edwards), Charlotte Edgerley (Homerton), Laura Bateman (Churchill), Bethany Randall (Sidney Sussex), Livvy Probert (Downing), Heather Britton (Jesus), Sophie Farrant (Emmanuel)
  • 探花直播Men鈥檚 Varsity team 2015: Simon Davies (Jesus College); Ilia Cherezov (St John's), Oliver Clough (St Edmund's), Jamie Roberts (Queens'), Andy Rees (St Catharine's); Fraser Gillies (Hughes Hall), Don Stevens (St Edmund's); Will Briggs (Magdalene), Max Montgomery (Emmanuel), Dave Spelman (Jesus), Rob Hall (Downing), Ian Nagle (Hughes Hall), James Kilroe (Robinson), Daniel Dass (St Catharine's), Sam Farmer (Wolfson).


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