🏆OXFORD IS THE 2021 VARSITY CHAMPION 🏆
On Saturday, 5th June, a sunny day at Guards Polo Club in Windsor saw Oxford beat Cambridge 8-3 in the 122nd annual Varsity match, continuing their now 8-year winning streak. Oxford immediately took command of the play from the first throw-in, taking the ball to goal and, after some clever positioning from Cecily Day at No. 2 and Tamara Gibbons at No. 3, pressed Cambridge into committing a foul directly in front of goal. This allowed for a smooth tap-in penalty for Captain Tom Gordon-Colebrooke to start pulling ahead on the scoreboard. From there, two field goals followed from Tom and Tamara, with Jamie Baillie at No. 1 doing a fine job clearing the front end of the field and creating attacking chances. Cambridge fought hard and had some exasperating misses after long, hard-fought passages of play, but were ultimately unable to convert on their chances.
After the first chukka, communication between the team led to four sleekly executed team goals set up by Tamara and Cecily and finished by Tom. A few more penalties extended Oxford’s lead in response to some cleanly struck 30-yard penalties from Cambridge’s Junaid Safdar, capped off by a final field goal by the ‘iceman’ Jamie Baillie to bring the final score to 8-3.
Tamara Gibbons was named the Most Valuable Player for her rock-steady performance playing at the back, claiming that title for the second time in her career after winning in 2019.
Special Thanks to:
Our sponsors: La Martina and Florence London
Our coach: Oxford Polo
Our host: Guards Polo Club
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