RNRU Royal Navy Rugby Union

RN 23 SQUAD V OXFORD UNIVERSITY U21 RFC

This Sunday the 28^thof October will see the Royal Navy U23 squad visit the "City of Dreaming Spires" as they continue their preparations for the 2012 Interservices Championship. Founded in 1869, the Oxford University Rugby Football Club (OURFC) is one of the oldest in the world and with OURFC now a regular fixture for the Senior RN XV, it was about time the young tyros of the senior service had the opportunity to pit their talents, skill, and commitment against a side with a formidable reputation for rugby. Since their inception, 300 Oxford Blues have gone on to win International Honours and the annual contest against their auld enemy Cambridge University in the Varsity Match at Twickenham remains, to this day, one of the highlights of the British Rugby Calendar.

For the Navy U23s, their game against a Chichester RFC Select XV two weeks ago proved a formidable test for an embryonic but quickly developing U23 side. Faced with a physical set of opponents and a side keen to play attacking rugby, the RN succumbed to 35 points in the first half, but in a game of two contrasting halves the score remained unchanged in the second half due to a combination of dogged Navy defence and stubborn reluctance to let "Chi" have everything their own way.   

In the finest traditions of both OURFC and Navy rugby, the game this Sunday looks set to be a fast and lively affair with possession likely to be hotly contested at the breakdown. 

RN 23 SQUAD V OXFORD UNIVERSITY U21 RFC
Kick off 14:00
St Edward's School, Oxford

Starting XV

There remainder of the squad will replace the above throughout the game.

Injuries to the following have meant some unexpected / last minute changes:

M Jones
J Blackburn
J Terry
C Davies