Varsity Report- Men’s Rugby 1st

The Men’s Rugby first teams took to the pitch on the evening of the 8th March, in cold and occasionally gusty conditions and accompanied by a great crowd of spectators. UKC scored an early try, which they failed to convert, and then throughout most of the first half the two teams were fairly evenly matched, UKC dominating overall although Christ Church applied strong pressure for around 5 minutes before conceding a penalty, which UKC successfully took advantage of, leaving the half-time score 8-0 to Kent.

Halftime was punctuated by an excellent cheerleading display from the Christ Church Jets. Regardless of molesting UKC players and an interruption from a streaker, which amusing as it was, I felt was slightly unsporting as it distracted attention from what was clearly several months work and practice, they carried on unfazed.

The second half unfortunately saw UKC in Christ Church’s half most of the time, although not without several exciting moments, including a try scored by Gino, Christ Church’s number 11, following a strong run down the right wing by T, which was successfully converted by Dan Fletcher. A loose ball in Christ Church’s half followed a kick from UKC failing to be secured, leading to a dramatic chase ending in a try, this time converted, to UKC. From this point there were only a few minutes left of the game, leaving the final score 13-7 to UKC.

Although the Christ Church team were clearly disappointed, they gave up a very good game against UKC, refusing to be outgunned and defending with every ounce of effort which saw UKC penalised several times during more pressured moments in the ruck and maul. The atmosphere of the game was highly enjoyable, with all of the traditional Christ Church chants which I am not allowed to repeat in print, as well as personally being subjected to banter from UKC people.

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