COLLEGE RUGBY ROUND-UP: 4th WEEK

Worcester/St Peter's vs Teddy Hall/Queen's

As the halfway mark of term drew near, college rugby returned to well-grow pitches across the city. Last weekend saw the men’s college league kick-off for the 25/26 season with three matches taking place; these matches were the first half of the league’s 1^st round with the second batch of matches taking place this weekend.

MAGDALEN/HILDA’S/REGENTS 27 - 17 LMH/CATZ/TRINITY

Saturday, 8th of November 2025.

 [Written by Stuart Brown, Magdalen College]

Magdalen/Hilda’s/Regents faced off against Trinity/LMH/Catz in the first match of the 2025/2026 season in what ended up being an absolute college rugby classic.

The drama started before the game even began as there was much excitement in the Magdalen/Hilda’s camp about the three new Regent’s players who were coming down to play for the side for the first time. However, despite these players turning up and being pointed to the changing room, they subsequently disappeared without a trace. After an extended search party was sent out to find the players they were finally spotted in the Trinity/LMH/Catz warm up having accidentally wandered into the wrong changing room and been mistaken for latecomers by the Trinity captain. After extracting these three elusive players Magdalen/Hilda’s (and Regents) finally had enough players to field a team and the game started.

Trinity/LMH/Catz started well, and the pace of Tom Lascelles brought up his first of many tries. Magdalen/Hilda’s/Regents showed great character however as they battled hard with a straight running abrasive game style, benefitting of the fact that they had fielded a team exclusively of forwards. The experience of on field captain and 5th year medic Anthony Vakis and 7th year postgrad medic Angus Barrett was well coupled with a large crop of exciting new talent amongst the freshers (who were all a bit taken aback to hear that Angus made his Magdalen debut in 2019 when they were in year 8). What followed was a back-and-forth affair with tries traded freely between both teams which led to Trinity entering the final five minutes 22-17 up. However, after a controversial offside call by the touch judge / Magdalen captain (which was ratified ultimately by the Catz captain as well), Magdalen/Hilda’s/Regents were given a penalty and the hard running Tom Bessant burst through the defensive line to score the winner.

A great day of rugby all around and fantastic to have an LMH old boy who was in Oxford for the day come to support and to confirm that the spirit and the memories made playing college rugby last well beyond the few years that you have at Oxford.

LINCOLN 31 - 29 BRASENOSE/CORPUSVILLE/UNIV

Saturday, 8th of November 2025.

[Written by Arthur Meynell, Lincoln]

After a week of relentless mizzle, the heavens finally parted over Uni Parks 1, clearing the air and gilding the grass for Lincoln College RFC’s first match of the season. Despite being merged with Pembroke and Wadham to help field a full XV for the League, only IX Lincolnite spartans marched to this golden theatre of war to slay the Brasenose/CorpusVille/Univ hydra, consisting of VII men. Two Pembroke mercenaries, including Blues-hopeful Dan Tollit, were ceded to the opposition for the sake of even numbers, meaning that, if victory was ours, all honour and glory would be Lincoln’s. Special mention goes to freshers Choski and Darwish for their willingness to play at the last minute, the latter in particular for getting a cup of hot water from the creperie and moulding his gumguard minutes before kickoff, scalding his fingers in the process - a very Mucius Scaevola.

Bridgey, on his refereeing debut, drew sagely on his medical degree when he limited the game to 28 minutes - any more would surely lead to cardiac arrests all over the pitch. Accordingly, we would be playing in four seven-minute quarters. Just before the whistle blew, a search party was launched to find the dropped gumguard of Lincoln’s prized winger, Ali Shaw (knowing what was at stake, he nobly opted to use his little brother’s manky mouthshield instead). A few minutes into the match, the opposition had already scored two quick tries. Lincoln heads were not yet bowed, but all of us had grimly accepted that this was going to be a basketball game, as Gary Neville might say - small mistakes would be punished mercilessly. The pace of play meant there would be no petty division of forwards and backs - each man was obliged to tackle, run and ruck whenever he was called to. Lusty takedowns from Faz “Bad Gal” Willett and Bruno Lykiardopoulos meant that the ball skittered into the hands of Shaw, whose famous piston-legs guarantee tries. Two came duly in succession, and the rest of us panted gratefully from a great distance.

After the opposition replied with another, the men of LCRFC began to feel the consequences of their LongVac sloth. Even before the first of our four breaks, our faces had turned a sickly ashen-green, and some men had the same expression of penitential queasiness which one presents to the Deepers toilet-bowl after one of the Chairman’s special orders. At half-time the score was 19-19 - throats dry, lungs burning, not an orange slice in sight. Even some of our veteran warriors supplicated to their captain, asking that since the opposition now had two substitutes on the sideline, it was only right that Tollit be returned to us. But a sense of honour prevailed, and we carried on the fight knowing the game was still in our hands. Slick passing combinations led to tries from Shaw and Tom, and we soon gained a healthy lead. Moretto, the human trebuchet, slung a ball perfectly over the crossbar from an outrageous distance and angle, a key moment in the game.

It was at this moment that seasoned professionals Drewitt-Jones and Obi, from Imperial, revitalised the side. But their valuable experience and brawn worked against us: feeling that victory was won, the Lincoln players became sloppy, and rapidly taken advantages from the opposition meant that in the last play of the game, the score was 31-29, and the enemy had the chance to equalise with a penalty kick. Silence descended on the ground. As their kicker swung his leg, the men of Lincoln rushed on him with noiseless fury. The ball came just short of the bar: victory was won, and swiftly christened with pints at the King’s Arms. Onto the next. Up the Lincoln.

Lincoln College are fundraising for Movember, a charity for the prevention of male suicide and diseases. We need your help to hit our target of £1500 - please donate to our page at this link: https://movember.com/t/lincoln-college-oxford?mc=1

ST PETERS/WORCESTER 7 - 22 ST EDMUND HALL/QUEEN’S

Sunday, 9th of November 2025.

[Hugo Walsh, St Edmund Hall]

Worcester/Peter’s started the game dominant and for the first 15 minutes played with most of the territory and possession. As the game turned in favour of Teddy Hall, a fast attack came from the backs. On one of our first entries to the Worcester/Peter’s 22 a try was scored off a set play move from a scrum. As the game progressed with a strong attacking line from both sides in a back-and-forth contest it was looking good for both sides going into half time. However, after been given repeated warnings by the ref, Teddy Hall/Queen’s were shown a yellow card. The card was shown to James Bacon for repeated offences in his own 22. It was 5-0 at half time.

As the second half kicked-off both teams were revived by half time team talks from captains. The start of the second half saw another try for Teddy Hall/Queen’s as winger Daniel Wade scored after receiving the ball from a set-piece move that hit the edge. Despite the opposition adding to the scoreboard, Worcester/Peter’s remained resolved and stayed in the fight and didn’t give away much space in defence or ball in attack. Despite the gruelling efforts of Worcester/Peter’s, a turnover in their half saw James Maddocks cut through the defensive line and scored after stepping off full back. The scored now stood at 15-0. The joy of the score was short-lived as Teddy Hall/Queen’s were hit with another yellow card. Another back-and-forth saw both sides fighting for a try; a try that came to Teddy Hall/Queen’s as Daniel Wade scored another try once again off a set-piece move hitting the wing. It was 22-0. As the clock went down towards the end of the match, Worcester/Peter’s kept fighting for the ball and territory; a fight that was rewarded with a well-deserved try after several penalties conceded by Teddy Hall/Queen’s in their 22. The final score was 22-5.

It was a great afternoon of rugby with the Worcester touchlines filled with brunch-fuelled fans cheering on their respective teams.