Saints finish off the Varsity victorious

“Oh when the Saints go marching in…”

9 years ago

On September 26th, the world’s oldest varsity match returned to Murrayfield Stadium as St Andrews battled it out with Edinburgh University in arguably one of the most important student rugby events in the country. With an impressive crowd of 9,679 supporters, the RBS Scottish Varsity Match capped off a full day of Varsity competition between the two universities.

For the first time since its revival in 2011, the Varsity included matches between Edinburgh and St Andrews for thirteen additional sports teams apart from the Rugby. Athletic Union President Sarah Thompson coordinated the event in an effort to “get more people involved than just two teams, and really build on that school spirit.”

The day started with St Andrews representatives travelling down to Edinburgh, with the earliest arriving at 9:00AM for the beginning of the Varsity matches. The contest was hosted at a range of venues across the city and saw many St Andrews athletes supporting their fellow peers competing in varying sporting disciplines. After the final matches were completed, teams were shuttled to Murrayfield to witness the showcase game that this day has become renowned for.

The Men’s 2nd XV and 3rd XV teams competed on the outlying pitches prior to the first match in the stadium scheduled for 5:00PM between the Women’s 1st squads. The crowd cheered on the competing teams and continued to gather until it amassed the near 10,000 supporters awaiting the final match of the day. Nearly an hour later, the St Andrews and Edinburgh Men’s 1st XV squads took to the field amidst the roaring crowd of students (including an impressive amount of alumni), family, and fans from around the country.

The contest was a thrilling end to the day of Varsity encapsulated by the last minute try from Rory Gardner and following conversion from first year, Finn Murphy, to pull the Saints ahead of their rivals. With a final score of 26-27, this victory marked the third year in a row that St Andrews has reigned undefeated.

In agreement was Sarah Thompson, who believed “the day was a brilliant showcase for student sport. The matches during the day were a great way to start what will hopefully become an overall Varsity in future, and the final matches at Murrayfield were the perfect end to it all. To have a crowd that big at a national stadium for a student rugby match was just incredible to see.”

Finn Murphy was aptly awarded the honour of Steven Sims Man of the Match in recognition of his steady performance throughout the contest and undoubtedly his final conversion to allow the Saints to emerge victorious. He acknowledged the success of the full day of competitive Varsity between the two universities, stating that “the support [our team] received prior to, during and after the match from everybody associated with the University was truly humbling. It lead to a great team performance and comeback and it was great to celebrate with everyone after.”

Here is a list of the fixture results from the full day of competition:

Men’s Rugby 1st XV: 26-27 (W)

Women’s Rugby 1st XV: 36-7 (L)

Men’s Rugby 2nd XV: 69-7 (L)

Men’s Rugby 3rd XV: 52-7 (L)

Women’s Basketball: 65-36 (W)

Men’s Basketball: 67-49 (L)

Squash: 3-2 (L)

Women’s Fencing: 115-73 (L)

Men’s Fencing: 135-88 (L)

Women’s Lacrosse: 22-7 (L)

Men’s Lacrosse: 6-4 (W)

Tennis: 4-8 (W)

Women’s Waterpolo: 16-1 (L)

Men’s Waterpolo: 13-4 (L)

Women’s Volleyball: 3-0 (L)

Men’s Volleyball: 3-0 (L)

Men’s Golf: 4.5-1.5 (L)

It is worth noting that many of the teams fielded from Edinburgh University, who were recently ranked 3rd in the overall BUCS League for 2014-15 in the UK, compete in higher divisions than the representative teams from St Andrews. Congratulations to all of the teams who competed in the Varsity and here’s to another successful contest next year!

All photos courtesy of the author and Saints Sport Media.