After a 21-12 defeat to Hallam at last year’s varsity, the University of Sheffield’s Men’s Rugby 1XV came to Hallam Sports Park looking to take the title back from their rivals. A scoreline of 43-14 saw them succeed, with a strong performance and six tries for Uni making it a comfortable win for captain Ted Ferris’ side in his last year at the club.
Separated by only 1 BUCS league, and having both seen success at previous varsity fixtures, the teams looked to have a close contest ahead of them, with the opening try coming from Matt Dryden after an intense 14 minutes of rugby. Fullback Charlie Combe’s conversion took the lead up to 7 points.
Combe added to the tally yet again only 7 minutes later with a penalty kick given away during a scrum, bringing the score up to 10-0.
Hallam’s first response was a try from captain Ben Bowden, with no.10 Tom Regester converting from between the sticks to bring his team closer to an equaliser.
With Uni continuing to bring the pressure to Hallam, it was only a matter of time before the ball came back down to the try line, this time thanks to winger Will Seymour breaking off at speed to score under the sticks. Combe converted yet again, putting Uni in a comfortable lead well into the first half.
The half time whistle blew with Uni at a comfortable 17 point advantage after a maul brought the ball to the try line, with Combe kicking it over for the 2 points.
There was hope for Hallam going into the second half, with George Kooper breaking through Uni’s defense to get the try for Hallam after 5 minutes of play. A conversion from Regester strengthened Hallam’s comeback chances, but they struggled to follow up with another break through Uni’s defense.
Combe maintained his 100% conversion success rate kicking after yet another Uni try, giving Hallam more ground to make for an equaliser with the score at 38-14.
Unfortunately for Hallam, they were fighting an uphill battle to come back into the game as Uni continued to extend their lead: no.16 Monty James’ try made it 43-14 at full time, with Combe’s conversion from afar just missing the sticks.
The win from Ferris’ side helped to extend Uni’s lead in the varsity leaderboard, with Hallam missing out on points in all 4 rugby union fixtures.
