"Despite coming from Yorkshire I had never really played rugby league before coming to Oxford. However after converting from Union to League I found this to be the case for most of the players who ended up playing in the team. I also only began playing rugby league in my second year at Oxford, after being asked to train by the strong contingent of Brasenose players already at the club.
Oxford University Rugby League has a first and a second team (Blues and Maroons), and tends to have four training sessions a week plus one game. I quickly begun to enjoy the two pitch sessions, but found the 7am early morning fitness tests pretty gruelling to say the least- they don’t get any easier! Soon enough I found myself representing the Blues team on the wing, perhaps a direct result of injuries and many of last year’s team having recently graduated. Nevertheless I played in around 15 games for the Blues over the season in the BUCS Premier South Division travelling around the Southern half of the country to play away games not to mention to unfortunate draw of Hull away in the cup.
As the season drew to a close the team started to concentrate on the Varsity fixture against Cambridge, an annual game we had not lost for over five years. Competition for places was fierce and the wait to discover whether I had made the match day squad was sickening. Luckily I was starting on the wing and training sessions become increasingly tense in the run up to the game.
The Varsity game was held at the Royal Honourable Artillery club in central London, and attracted around a thousand spectators. The atmosphere was electric and the team produced our best performance of the year as we ran in try after try against Cambridge. I experienced a frustrating game at times, eventually managing to cross the line for a try in the final play of the game (as pictured). The final score was 42-0, and the victory made all the hours put into training and matches across the long season worth every second."
By Conor McCleary - Second Year Economics and Management
Rugby at Brasenose College is, as with all other colleges at both Oxford and Cambridge, completely optional, along with other sports, drama, music, debating, charity work, journalism, partying and many other hobbies and pursuits. All levels of sports ability are catered for, from the purely social, to those who take it more seriously. Ability in sports or other hobbies are not taken into account during the application process for undergraduate or graduate study.