The first half of the Pumas match against Cambridge started off strong with both teams fighting for dominance in the middle of the pitch. Cambridge were ferocious when trying to steal the ball, but they could not penetrate the Pumas’ sturdy rucks and the times when they were in possession, our forwards stepped in with some powerful tackles that stopped them in their tracks. Despite the back and forth between the two teams, there were no tries scored in the first half.
It was not until the second half of the game when our very own Izzy Lundberg scored a beautiful try that gave the Puma’s the upper hand against the Jaguars making the score 5-0. From then on, we focused on maintaining a strong defensive line and pushing the Jaguars back to their side of the pitch. The most nerve-racking part of the game came in the last seconds with Cambridge pushing us to the very edge of our side of the pitch. Scoring what seemed like a try with less than 15 seconds left in the game, Cambridge began to celebrate before realising that the try was preceded by a forward pass. This meant that the Pumas won 5-0 to the Jaguars and were the ones coming home with this year’s Varsity trophy for 2024. While the Puma’s match against Cambridge proved to be an arduous one with its fair share of nail-biting moments, the team persevered, scoring OURFC the first win of the Varsity season thus far and the first ever Varsity win for the Pumas!
Match Report: Estelle Onwuka
