Rugby didn’t quite return as we expected last week with 2 games postponed due to frozen pitches. We managed to get the Men’s Blues game on by moving to a 4G pitch at Cheshunt Rugby Club which should be a helpful experience for the artificial pitch at StoneX. The Blues ran out 41-31 winners over Bristol in a close fought contest against a tough Bristol side. Centre, Matt Riddington kicked off the new year in style with two tries and a well-deserved player of the match award to boot.
What’s on this week?
Fixtures are on as usual this week, with Wednesday seeing the Women’s Blues finally taking on Oxford at home after last week’s away game was postponed (Grange Road KO 7pm). The LXs return to league action with a home game against UEA (Queens’ College Grounds KO 1.30pm)
We’d love to have a big crowd for the Blues match vs Oxford so do come down and support.
Varsity tickets reminder
A reminder you can buy your tickets for Varsity on March 2nd below too:
1. Past players
2. CURUFC Members & Supporters
3. Students
4. Hospitality
Coach tickets from Cambridge can be bought here and parking passes are also available.
88s Match – Friday February 16th
We have the 88s match coming up in just under 4 weeks time. Now in its third year, the 88s Match is an ever-growing feature of the CURUFC calendar celebrating the continued rise of Women’s rugby at the club. The 2023 iteration of the fixture was won narrowly by the Light Blues in a very tightly contested match played on a snow-covered Grange Road and captain, Emilia Bushrod, will be hoping to lead the Light Blues to another victory against the prestigious 88s Invitational XV.
The game will be taking place at 7.30pm on Friday 16th February under the lights at Grange Road. Our partners, Mulberry Risk, are headline sponsors for the game and we’re expecting a big turnout to see the Women’s Blues off before Varsity. Entry to the 88s match is free for Varsity Matches ticket holders who show their confirmation email on the door. Otherwise 88s tickets are available here.
Meet the players – Alice Middleton:
In the build up the Varsity, we want to introduce you to some of the current CURUFC players with our “Meet the Players” series. We’re kicking off with a club veteran, Alice Middleton, who is back for her second stint at Cambridge after a few years spent working as a junior doctor in Bristol. Alice first played at CURUFC from 2015-18 and famously scored a hat trick in the first women’s Varsity Match to be played at Twickenham in 2015. She is now a public health doctor and is back at Cambridge doing an MPhil in Population Health Sciences as part of her new role.
Name, College & Matriculation: Alice Middleton, St Catherine’s, 2023 (this time…)
Nickname: Midds… aka ‘Slug’ in the old days
Position: Fullback
Honours & previous clubs: Blue 2015-17 (captain 2016/17), Shelford Rugby club, Eastern Counties, Bristol Bears
Favourite moment at CURUFC: Winning 52-0 at Twickenham in 2015 is probably unmatched, but I remember my first rugby mum’s social very fondly, amongst so many wonderful social memories! I also loved summer sevens times with “Cambridge Uni-corns” and there was also the time we got a load of free Deliveroos for the team back in 2016! More recently, my heart is fairly consistently full of Light Blue joy at all the familiar traditions here at CURUFC. It’s such a privilege to have this opportunity to enjoy it all again!
Special talents: Endless pursuit of higher education
Pre-game meal: Overnight oats with nuts, seeds, fruit and yoghurt
Hype song: The Prodigy – Omen
Favourite CURUFC player of all time: I cannot possibly call this so I’ll just shout out my first CURUFC captain, the inspirational, omnipresent Nikki Weckman. I’ll never forget how well she lead the squad to our debut at Twickenham.
How has CURUFC changed from when you were first here in 2015-2018? I love how the player committee has grown, with more roles and more leadership within the squad – there are now four social secretaries for the team, all of whom are doing a cracking job!
Excitingly we also have a consistently higher turn-out for development squad training compared to 6 years ago. It’s so great to see so much interest in taking up rugby and to see the coaching support on offer for women new to the sport.
There have also been some brilliant upgrades to Grange Road facilities, I spend plenty of time at the Koster Performance Centre [the CURUFC gym named after our late co-Chair & former Captain Nick Koster] which was just being built when I was last here.
How’s your season gone so far? We’ve had some promising results so far as a team and I’ve loved being involved. I’ve been working hard to sharpen my rugby skills after a bit of a rugby break, and am continuing to work on things like speed and agility, the young ‘uns here are pretty nifty!
How does the standard compare to your time at Bristol Bears? I count myself very lucky to have played alongside girls with international ambitions and experience at Bears, the expectation of us all was high and the intensity of everything we did followed that. It was a step up in terms of time commitment but the is a sense of community and passion for the game is shared across both clubs. I recognise lots of other things in common – the overall structure and organisation of training, a robust strength and conditioning programme, incredible dedicated support behind the scenes, and the collective drive to improve from everyone involved.
What’s your prediction for Varsity? Light Blue domination everywhere it matters – on the pitch, in the crowd and in the post-match social. GDBO!
Thanks to Alice for chatting to us this week and we hope she’s right about Varsity. Next week we’ll be speaking to scrum half Dave Holdroyd, now in his 5th year at Cambridge to hear about how the Men’s Blues have been getting on.
We can’t wait to welcome UEA and Oxford to Grange Road on Wednesday. Do come down and support and don’t forget to pick up your tickets for the 88s match.
See you at Grange Road soon!
Jess, CURUFC Chair
57. Venue change for Men’s Blues vs. Bristol University
Published on Thursday, 18 January 2024
Due to a frozen pitch at Grange Road the Men’s Blues game vs. Bristol University tomorrow evening will now take place on the 3G pitch at Cheshunt RFC (Andrew’s Ln, Cheshunt, Waltham Cross EN7 6TB). If you live in North London or the local area, it would be great to have some familiar faces at the game. There will be a bar serving hot and cold beverages.
Apologies to those who had already purchased tickets to Grange Road. Refunds have been issued and you should receive them shortly.
