Exclusive: Blues Talisman Reid To Miss Varsity

Cambridge will go into the Varsity Match in two weeks without one of their star performers after centre Sandy Reid broke his ankle on Wednesday.

Reid limped off ten minutes into the second half against the Steele Bodger XV and was taken to hospital.

During their post-match supper, the Blues squad were informed that their talismanic team-mate was in danger of missing Varsity, confirmed by a call from Reid’s parents to captain Jimmy Richards in the morning.

Reid in action against the Steele Bodger XV, before suffering the break.

The centre, who is studying for an MPhil in International Relations, has been in top form for the Blues this year, striking up a potent all-John’s partnership with Fred Burdon.

Earlier this month he became one of the youngest Blues ever to win 50 caps, and the up-coming Varsity would have been his fourth in succession.

Blues captain Jimmy Richards told The Tab: “I know he’s terribly disappointed. It happened last year when he hurt his toe about two weeks before and this time he’s done his ankle. He’s not very happy at all.

“He’s been one of our main players this whole year but this is rugby, this is how it works, and someone else will step up and put in a good performance.

“I only really found out [about the break] the morning after. The physios and the doctors had a feeling when it happened on the the field that he had done something quite bad. Only once he had got the X-Rays done did we really know. His parents actually phoned me because he was already being operated on”.

Reid put in a commanding performance against Blackheath earlier this season.

The damage happened as Reid made a break down the left-hand corner and was tackled, in what looked like an innocuous incident.

Richards said: “He must have just got caught, something must have landed on him. No-one really knew until after the game that he’s done something really bad.”

Asked how Reid’s absence would affect his team’s chances at Twickenham, Richards said he was still confident: “We’ve got quite a lot of depth in the back line. He’s a good player so it’s a shame he won’t be there but we’ve got other players who will be stepping up. This is how it works”.