As the final remnants of an incongruously snowy scene were wiped away and replaced with the more familiar canvas of mud and turf known to Oxford’s rugby pitches, the first round of Cuppers got underway with a match that showed both the beautiful and unsightly side to the game. The splendour on this occasion was provided in spades by a New College side, playing well above their fourth-division status. The ugly element came at the game’s climax, when St Peter’s winger suffered a badly broken leg, a far from fitting conclusion to the spectacle.

Judging from this performance, it is highly appropriate that New are sponsored by Oxford’s grottiest haunt, Bar Risa. With a backline as potent as a quadruple-vodka-coke, and a pack with more beef than a post-club kebab. Peter’s, on the other hand, were ragged and rattled as they struggled to cope with their fired-up and well-drilled opposition.

Cuppers always allows stars of the university side to showcase their talents, and New were notably boosted by the presence of Blues’ fly-half, Ross Swanson. Fittingly, it was Swanson who crashed over for the first score, after a quickly taken penalty on Peter’s five-metre line. His successful conversion was added to minutes later by a coolly slotted penalty, pushing New out into an early ten-point lead. Second-year Swanson is undoubtedly a great strength for the New College side, with his skill as a player and ever-increasing experience from playing with the Blues and previously representing England Under-18s likely to ignite a lift-off through the divisions for New. But this was far from a one man cabaret. New, in their red and black stripes were akin to fifteen Dennis the Menaces, causing all sorts of mischief for their below-par opposition. They soon crossed the white-line again as Shaun Nash broke through an attacking line-out to cap a sumptuously worked set-piece.

A crucial slip in attention meant that Peter’s, wearing shirts as loose as their floundering defence, were punished by winger Owen Gallagher, as he touched down in the corner twice before the break. New, twenty-seven points to the good at half-time, were looking impressive; a different species entirely to their struggling league side.
The second half followed much in the same vein. The hosts, seemingly perpetually camped in enemy territory, saw Nash bundled in for a try by the rest of the swash-buckling forward pack. Minutes later, Swanson, supporting a break-out from defence, turned on the gas, and managed to round two covering defenders.

Sadly, the aforementioned end to the match was undeserved; either for New, or St Peter’s, who despite being far from their best, had shown plenty of pluck and fight; their pugnacious nature often denying their opponents on several potential scoring occasions. New, however, will want to build on this superb performance and demonstrate the same discipline and commitment as the competition reaches its crescendo.

Sunday saw the much-anticipated return of Cuppers Chess, in the form of an eight-team, four-board, 15 minute tournament held at Keble. The teams were divided into two groups of four for a round-robin group stage, which would be followed by semi-finals and a final.

In group A, a three-way battle between the strong teams from Exeter, Univ and Merton for the two qualifying berths ensued. Merton’s lower-board strength resulted in draws with both Exeter and Univ, but the decisive result proved to be Univ’s 3 – 1 victory over Exeter, sending them through top of the group.

Group B was dominated by pre-tournament favourites Keble, who scored 11 out of 12 to set up a semi-final with Merton. Second place went to Blackfriars, who defeated both St. Catz B and Merton Magic, who ran away with prize for worst name in the competition.

In the semi-finals, the surprise package, Blackfriars, came extremely close to toppling Univ, losing only on the tie-break rule. In the other semi final, Merton knew they would have to perform exceptionally to have any chance against the all-conquering Keble. It looked as if a shock might be on the cards when Merton won board 4, but Keble’s top three players showed their class to ensure they would face Univ in the final.

First, however, third place had to be decided. Blackfriars drew first blood when board 1 Patrick Mitchell checkmated Merton’s George Raptis with a nice combination. But with the other three games going Merton’s way, Ben Waugh soon levelled the score with a fine win, while Eoin Devane won on board 2. The match would thus come down to board 3, where Alex Antao had a winning position but was desperately low on time. This told, and David Baird capitalised on a mistake by Antao to seal the victory for Blackfriars on the tie-break rule.

Having dropped only two points in the entire tournament thus far, Keble were favourites to win the final against Univ. Indeed Ting Xu soon gave them the advantage with a win on board 4.

However, despite taking a 2-0 lead, things were far from over. Ben Kirollos was looking dominant on 3 and the mercurial Mike Healey looked to have the stronger position against Tom Eckersley-Waites on 1. If both boards went against Keble, Univ would win on tiebreak. Once again, time proved significant; Kirollos’ flag fell, giving Keble the victory. There was still time, however, for a grandstand finish between Healey and Eckersley-Waites with both players having fewer than 2 seconds remaining when Healey won. Thus, Keble won the first Chess Cuppers of this Century. I dare say, given the success of the event, that it will not be the last.

For the second year running, Oxford was victorious at the Tae Kwon-Do Varsity Match. The annual contest, which took place in Cambridge last Saturday, was a truly spectacular display of martial arts sparring. Each squad consisted of Men’s A, Women’s A, Men’s B and Men’s C teams, with individual fights taking place between members of each team. Each winning team contributed points to the overall score.
OUTKD had put forward the strongest Varsity Squad in recent years, with twelve Black Belts and four international standard competitors. The competition for the squad was so fierce that even the Men’s C team members all had previous Varsity experience. Going into the match expectations were high, the only danger to Oxford’s chances was complacency. Fortunately this was avoided and, despite strong Cambridge opposition, the Dark Blue fighters came through to dominate the competition.
The Oxford Squad, as a whole, displayed a higher level of skill right from the start, scoring a perfect victory in the Men’s C team category by winning every fight. The C Team win did not contribute to the overall score but the psychological advantage it had given Oxford was nothing short of awesome. The crowd, which can only be described as partisan, was silenced, as they realised the task which the Light Blues had on their hands.
The Men’s B team matches followed, which ended in a close win for Cambridge due to a disputed disqualification for the Oxford fighter, Romano Tartivita, whose powerful punches were too overwhelming for the Cambridge fighter and deemed “excessive” by the referee. The decision was marginal, and Tartivita can feel rightly aggrieved that he was robbed of what looked to be a certain victory, the inability of his opponent to provide any defence having more to do with the decision than the aggression which the Oxford fighter showed.
After this minor setback it was time for the all-conquering, all-Black-Belt Oxford Women’s Squad, who had been the pride of OUTKD all year, bringing home nine medals between the six of them at the UK Open. They also had valuable experience of winning at Cambridge, having dominated the Cambridge Open Championships. Unfortunately, Cambridge was unable to field a Women’s B, nor a full Women’s A team this year and only two fights took place in the Women’s A category, both of which the Oxford women, Valentina Iotchkova and Alice Gardner, won with comfort and style. A particularly noteworthy fight was that of the Cambridge Women’s Captain against Iotchkova. The Dark Blue fighter, who is currently one of Oxford’s England Squad members, did not concede a single point. On reflection, it was probably a good thing that Cambridge were unable to field a more extensive women’s team, as the one-sided nature of the two contests which took place firmly confirmed the dominance of the Oxford women.
At the end of the Women’s A match, the overall score was 2-1 to Oxford with the Women’s Shield in the bag. There could not have been more excitement from the crowd as the Men’s A team geared up for their match. These fights were no doubt the highlight of the day, with both teams’ presidents, captains and Cambridge’s Lithuanian heavyweight international fighting it out for the remaining Men’s and Overall shields. After having had very little to cheer about all day, the crowd became more and more vocal, urging their team on to greater efforts.
The first three matches gave Oxford a 2-1 lead, with the OUTKD Men’s Captain Nathan Ewin winning his match against his Cambridge counterpart and the UK Open Silver Medallist Patrick Wills nearly knocking his opponent out with fierce blows to the head, which surprisingly did not earn him a disqualification, the referee perhaps sensing the added importance of this contest. In the end, it all came down to the grudge match between the Oxford President, Adam Park, and Cambridge’s international competitor from Lithuania, who had a 20kg weight advantage and had previously won the match between the two at the Cambridge Open Heavyweight final back in November.
Tension was running high and the fighters spent a good half of the first round measuring each other’s movements and strategies. The first round ended with the Cambridge fighter several points ahead but the Oxford fighter had been more reserved and had more techniques hidden up his sleeve than his opponent had thought. The Cambridge fighter soon became tired and his movements sluggish whilst Park picked up his pace and overturned the scores in the last minute to finally win with fast back-kicks in the air and an impressive hook-kick, side-kick combination to the face which dazed his opponent and cause him to stumble and call time-out.
The disappoint of the Cambridge support was tangible, in stark contrast to the jubilation of the Oxford camp. After going in strong favourites, they had not only walked away with an emphatic win, but, disregarding the contentious Men’s B result, had proved themselves to be the better side at all levels. The performance of Park was particularly gratifying, and the settling of his personal score simply added to the feeling of elation.
With many of the fighters returning next year, Oxford can be hopeful of extending their run in this match. Cambridge meanwhile, will be left ponder where they should go from here. From this showing, they are a long way behind their Dark Blue counterparts, especially in the women’s competition. The dust can be expected to gather on the silverware; it will be in Oxford for a while.