Varsity matches: Victories for Cambridge men and Oxford women

Cambridge's last victory over Oxford, before Thursday's triumph, was a 31-27 win seven years ago

Cambridge beat Oxford for the first time since 2009 in a thrilling 135th men's Varsity match at Twickenham.

Rory Triniman's late try sealed the win for the Light Blues to go with three second-half Fraser Gillies penalties.

Mike Phillips raced through to give Cambridge a half-time lead, while Oxford's Henry Hughes and Ed David scored either side of Triniman's try.

In the women's Varsity match, captain Catherine Wilcock's first-half penalty earned Oxford a 3-0 win.

Cambridge men had not scored a try in the fixture since 2013, following last year's 12-6 defeat and a 43-6 loss in 2014.

But they were gifted the opener shortly before the break, when Henry de Berker's misplaced pass was stolen by Phillips who ran almost half the length of the field to dot down beneath the posts.

The game ebbed and flowed in the second half with Gillies and Oxford's Basil Strang exchanging penalties, before Hughes finished a fine team move for the Dark Blues to bring the scores level at 13-13.

After the superb Gillies had restored Cambridge's advantage from the tee, Triniman showed immense strength while being tackled to bundle over for the match-winning try.

David's 77th-minute score proved to be no more than a consolation as Cambridge made it 62 victories to Oxford's 59 in the 144-year-old fixture.

Oxford women avenge 2015 drubbing

Oxford celebrate their victory in the women's Varsity match

The women's game beforehand lacked the tries seen in the men's fixture, but it was no-less tense with Oxford looking to avenge their 52-0 defeat 12 months earlier.

Cambridge ran in eight tries that day, but were unable to find any momentum this time against a solid Oxford defence.

The Dark Blues managed to hold out for more than an hour following Wilcock's 16th-minute penalty, full-back Sophie Trott starring with three try-saving tackles.

'We had nothing left in the tank'

Cambridge back row and man of the match Brian Du Toit told BBC Sport:

"It's absolutely huge, we put such an emphasis on not worrying about the previous six games, we knew we had such a tight-knit group of boys we just wanted to do it for each other and people who had worn the jersey previously.

"We were all willing to get up off the ground when we had nothing left in the tank - you wanted to do it for your brothers, your team-mates, your family."

Oxford captain Fergus Taylor added to BBC Sport:

"We really did give it everything, we prepared really well this year. We had the opportunities to win that game, we didn't take them in the first half.

"We took our foot off the pedal in the second half of the first half and didn't really turn it on until the last 20 when it was a bit too late."

Cambridge men: Amesbury; Davies, Triniman, Phillips, King; Gillies, Tullie; Briggs, Burnett, Dixon, Hunter, Bond, Stanley, Du Toit, Dass (c).

Replacements: Hugkulstone, Somers, Moros, Erogbogbo, Bartholomew, Bell, Erogbogbo, Griffiths.

Oxford men: Geiger; David, Hughes, Hogg, Stileman; Strang, De Berker; Ball, Hart, Morris, Taylor (c), Grant, Roberts-Huntley, Blomfield, Wilson.

Replacements: Thornton, Scaife, Lu, Marsden, MacGilchrist, Beaufils, Kershaw, Kearns.