Frost's early burst inspires Cambridge to Varsity victory

Oxford University 13 Cambridge University 15

It was better than last year, but then, anything would have been better than last year, which was tryless and brainless and almost entirely pointless in every sense of the word. Simon Frost, a great tank of a South African centre who modestly describes himself as "a spontaneous, gorgeous perfectionist", treated a half-full Twickenham to two tries in the opening quarter of an hour, and if Cambridge did little else for the remaining 65 minutes, that early burst of activity was enough to flummox opponents who should have won without breaking sweat.

The Dark Blues managed two tries of their own through the slippery Will Rubie and the rather less elusive Kevin Tkachuk, who was anchoring the Canadian scrum in France less than three weeks ago and, at 19st plus, was constructed on the same scale as his native Manitoba. However, other five-pointers went begging – both Tim Barlow and Karrelle Dixon had knicker-twisting moments with the line beckoning – and despite applying late pressure of considerable intensity, Oxford were made to pay for their profligacy.

If Barlow and Dixon had brought an ounce of common sense to bear, Rubie would have been the first Varsity participant to score a hat-trick since Ken Fyfe of Cambridge in 1934. The smallest player on the pitch, Rubie was also the most dangerous. His try at the end of the first quarter was a beauty, a twinkle-toed dance that left opponents face down in the green stuff, and his public disgust at the later decisions of his colleagues was thoroughly justified.

Frost was no Rubie: where the latter was quick and imaginative, the former was powerful but predictable. Yet he unhinged a poorly organised defence as early as the eighth minute, beating his opponents from fully 40 metres, and doubled the dose seven minutes later after a pass from Akinola Abiola. Barlow did not exactly cover himself in glory here, either; he should have laid hands on one of the two attackers, but failed to get close to either.

While the 2001 fixture had resembled a pantomime without the jokes, there was more substance to this one. The least said about the kicking, the better: the outside-halves, Matthew Honeyben of Oxford and Owen Edwards of Cambridge, made pigs' ears of straightforward pots at goal, and their punting was equally flawed. But Oxford contributed some nicely organised line-out routines, while Cambridge scrapped relentlessly in the face of a significant forward threat.

The New Zealander Duncan Blaikie got through more carrion than any of his fellow scavengers. In fact his appetite for whatever might be going on the floor was positively Bunteresque. The captain nearly missed the game through injury and had he done so, it is difficult to see how Cambridge could have manned the barricades to such effect.

Even with Blaikie on the paddock for the duration, Cambridge needed a little help from the gods – more specifically, the whistle-blowing deity known as Tony Spreadbury – to protect their lead after Tkachuk's close-range try on 71 minutes. Spreadbury awarded the Light Blues a late scrum on their line after Honeyben had slid a clever kick behind the defence. It was a brave call, and a contentious one. Natural justice dictated that Oxford should have had the put-in, from which they would, in all probability, have claimed a match-winning try.

But justice is not a given, even among rugby's anachronistic élite. And anyway, Oxford had only themselves to blame.

Oxford: Tries Rubie, Tkachuk; Penalty Honeyben. Cambridge: Tries Frost 2; Conversion Edwards; Penalty Edwards.

Oxford University: T Barlow (St Anne's); W Rubie (Brasenose), J Allen (University), A Willett (Merton), S Douglas (Merton); M Honeyben (Pembroke), D Taberner (Worcester); K Tkachuk (Kellogg), D Griffiths (St Edmund Hall), H Nwume (University), A Russell (Magdalen), C Edwards (Balliol), F Gemmell (capt, St Catherine's), B Durham (Keble), D Lubans (St Anne's). Replacements: K Dixon (St Cross) for Douglas, 23; R Woods (St Anne's) for Durham, 33.

Cambridge University: A Newmarch (St Edmund's); S Kingsbury (Corpus Christi), S Frost (Hughes Hall), J Wright (St Edmund's), A Abiola (St Catharine's); O Edwards (Hughes Hall), B Dormer (St Edmund's); J Bosch (St Edmund's), C Collins (Fitzwilliam), J Reilly (Fitzwilliam), G Webster (St Edmund's), M Purdy (Fitzwilliam), O Scrimgeour (St Edmund's), D Blaikie (capt, Hughes Hall), S Eru (St Edmund's). Replacement: A Gladstone (St Edmund's) for Collins, 81.

Referee: A Spreadbury (Somerset).