32 I OXFORD UNIVERSITY I SPORTS REVIEW 2010 of commendable performances both at the BUCS Championships and at the Varsity Match. At BUCS, Oxford Captain Dan Tristao won the singles competition for the third year in a row, beating Oxford's Jez Fabes in the final. In the doubles, Oxford 1st pair Jez Fabes and Ed Ronan were the runners-up, and two other Oxford pairs reached the semi-finals. As for the Varsity Match, this was the pinnacle of our season; with a winning margin of 300 - 38, this was a record victory in the Rugby Fives Varsity Match, and a margin which is unlikely to be repeated for a long time.RUGBY LEAGUEWith the Maroons entering their second year, and the Blues looking to push on in BUCS Premier South, the whole OURLFC squad kicked off the 2009-10 season with a pre-season camp that helped squad members, new and old, to bond as a unit. Despite a tough opening few weeks in the BUCS leagues, until Captain Paddy Boyle's squad got into their stride, three consecutive league wins put the Blues fourth and qualified them for the BUCS Trophy.In January, before the start of Hilary term, Oxford's annual mid-season tour took them to a fantastic top-of-the-range training facility in Portugal; used by many Super League teams as well as international rugby and football squads. The trip to Vilamoura appeared to work; as in Hilary Term, the Blues won their remaining two league fixtures and the Maroons finished second in BUCS South. The Blues extended their run to winning eight of their final nine games - including wins over Super 8 side St Mary's in the cup, and the RAF U23s. The cup run was eventually halted by Leeds Met in the semi-finals, but the Blues went on to beat Brookes and then come from 16-0 behind to win the 30th Annual Varsity Match 32-22. The Maroons also came from 20 points down to win their Varsity Match once again; and the Old Boys made it an Oxford clean sweep for 2010. With the first ever Women's Varsity match scheduled for Trinity 2010, OURLFC looks set to keep growing and progressing.OURFCThe Club enjoyed a successful season overall, winning four out of the five Varsity Matches in November/December 2009. The showpiece game at Twickenham for the Blues once again saw a very exciting Varsity Match, following on from last year's thrilling 33 - 29 victory; unfortunately this year we were on the wrong end of the score come the final whistle!The Greyhounds had a torrid season in BUCS Premier South B, finishing just above the relegation zone, and as a result of the restructuring of the BUCS season, they have

I 33 www.sport.ox.ac.ukreluctantly pulled out of the competition for this coming season. In January 2010 Nick Haydon (Univ) was elected Captain, with Karl Outen (SEH) as Team Secretary.The Blues will undertake a pre-season tour to Moscow in September, at the invitation of the Rugby Union of Russia. They will play two matches, one in Moscow and the other in Kazan, as they use this trip as the first stage of their preparations for the 129th Nomura Varsity Match on Thursday 9th December at Twickenham, KO 2.00pm.There have been many changes at OURFC since April. With Lord Butler standing down as President after 12 years in the position, Chairman Peter Bridges has now stepped up to be President with Ronnie Lamb, Blues Captain in 1964, being elected Chairman. After 14 years as the Club's Director of Rugby, Steve Hill moved on to take up a similar role at Richmond RFC, where he is already enjoying success and recruiting hard from former Oxford players! The Club has subsequently been restructured internally, with Tim Stevens becoming General Manager, former player Peter Wright coming in as Commercial Manager and Sally Wright continuing as Assistant Administrator.WOMEN'S RUGBYWe have enjoyed a successful season this year, with a top eight place finish in BUCS for the Blues, and a top four in the conference cup for the Panthers, our second team. Although both teams suffered losses in this year's Varsity Matches, the games were hard-fought and the standard of rugby was high. We also secured Nomura sponsorship for the VM! Our mid-season tour in January, which kicked off the new year and the eight week build-up to Varsity, brought us to Browns Sports Complex in Portugal. Back from tour, the Blues put together a string of wins to finish third in the BUCS South Premier league, and in the quarter-finals of the BUCS cup. Coaches Hugo Phillips' and Aled Lloyd Owen's hard work saw the Panthers reach the semifinal of the BUCS Conference Cup, and maintain their position in the Midlands Conference, remaining one of the highest university 2nds teams in the country. The Panthers played a very closely fought Varsity game, not conceding a try and managing to breach the Cambridge tryline themselves, but eventually lost with a score of 9-7. The Blues displayed a strong effort on Varsity day, though unfortunately Cambridge dominated, winning 25-0. The many spectators at Iffley Road enjoyed a high level of rugby, and a closer competition than the scoreline implies. Despite the great disappointment in losing Varsity, both teams played phenomenally well and grew as players as a result.As well as our Blues and Panthers teams, OUWRFC is committed to working hard to keep the level of College rugby high, and recruit new players to the game both at College and University level. Touch 7s in MT went very well as an introductory and recruitment session for the Club. Contact 7s was run as an introductory session in Hilary term, with much appreciated support of a number of OURFC players. The support of OURFC this season has been simply invaluable both on and off the pitch. We are very grateful for the continuing support of Tim Stevens, and we would also like to thank everyone involved in the arrangement of the Nomura sponsorship. Their sponsorship of the Varsity Match has really helped raise our Club profile both within and outside the University, as demonstrated by the number of people who came to watch the match. I am confident that this will lead to great benefits next year in recruiting new members. SHORINJI KEMPO2009-10 saw another good year for the Shorinji Kempo Club. Freshers' Fair saw a good intake of new members and the Club continued to welcome new trainees throughout Hilary and Trinity terms, which offset the normal drop-off in attendance by Freshers' recruits.2009-10 saw 16 Club members take grading examinations, with all Club members passing. Six students passed their 4th kyu (yellow belt) grading, seven students passed their 3rd kyu (green belt) grading, two students passed their 2nd kyu (blue belt) grading and one student passed their 1st kyu (brown belt) grading.February saw nine Club members attend the annual University Training Seminar, which was held in Bristol this year. Sensei Chris was part of a team of senior instructors who taught sessions on topics including randori and practical self-defence. The kenshi who attended benefitted greatly from the experience and it was a great opportunity to maintain links with other university clubs. Training with kenshi and instructors from other clubs is important as it ensures that the Club is exposed to fresh ideas about training methods and techniques. The Club intends to maintain its presence at this type of event in the future.SKI AND SNOWBOARDThroughout the year we have continued our effort to develop the Club and make skiing and snowboarding more accessible throughout the University. We have continued to see a strong increase in membership from freestylers, which is why we are offering weekly freestyle trips to the indoor Snow Dome in Milton Keynes, as well as the weekly race training sessions on the dry slope at Welwyn.In May the dry slope racing team finished fifth nationally in the Kings finals, which is a very impressive feat. This year we are planning to recreate the success of last year's joint racing and freestyle summer training in Les Deux Alpes. In December 2009 the Varsity Trip, jointly organised by the Oxford and Cambridge Ski and Snowboard Clubs, has seen yet another peak with over 2,500 students descending on Tignes. There was plenty of sunshine, snow and fresh powder on some days - making it perfect for the freestyle contingent. The racers made the most of the great conditions, with the Varsity Races taking place on Blues Tuesday. Oxford Men's Blues trailed after the Giant Slalom in the morning due to some unlucky falls, so despite very good performances in the following day's Slalom, the Oxford men were unable to close the margin and Cambridge won. The Women's Dark Blues, however, won by a larger margin than any other skiing Varsity win on record, to continue the series of victories they have had over the last few years. This rounded up a great Varsity Trip 2009. We are already looking forward to the Varsity Trip 2010, which will be held in Val Thorens this December. SQUASH2009-10 once again proved to be a fruitful year for OUSRC, with all teams experiencing highly successful seasons. The Men's Blues made the play-off finals of BUCS Division 1 Midlands Conference League after finishing second, but unfortunately lost to an exceptionally strong Loughborough team in play-offs. The Men's Second Team endured arguably the toughest start to the season, with Captain Joe Bartlett-Marques restructuring the squad, introducing a new system based around an internal fortnightly box league. The Squirrels were committed and hard-working and attained such a standard that they could play alongside Blues players in BUCS Division 1. The Squirrels concurrently competed in Division 2, where they finished fourth despite losing some close games. The Women's Blues Team won the National League, also competing in the Oxfordshire League, BUCS and Varsity. Unfortunately the team was relegated from the Oxfordshire League, although they are optimistic about attaining promotion next year. However, the team won the highly competitive South-East Regional Cup, hence qualifying for the National Finals. Disappointingly the Finals were scheduled on the same weekend as the BUCS tournament, forcing the team to withdraw. Thankfully, the team put this disappointment behind them to put in a strong showing at BUCS; coming second in their group and reaching the quarter-finals.The Club Annual Dinner was held at Vincent's Club and was held in honour of the Club's