Light Blues hit back in Varsity showdown to ruin Roff's finale

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The symbolic gesture confirmed the retirement of the schoolboy chess champion who became a Wallaby grand master — 'HQ' marking the end of a distinguished career just as it had for Jason Robinson five days earlier.

Decisive: Lumby breaches Oxford's defence to score

Unlike his English contemporary, Roff, the stylish threequarter whose interception try turned the 2001 Lions series Australia's way, failed to wave a winning farewell in his capacity as Oxford's captain.

Instead, Cambridge came from behind to maintain one of the more enduring sequences of the Varsity match, two second-half tries ensuring the Light Blues a hat-trick of wins which they have now managed in each of the five decades since the Fifties.

It also ensured that at least one tradition survived, despite the 126th duel of the oldest annual amateur fixture being shifted from its customary berth on the second Tuesday of December, a later date with a late afternoon kick-off designed to check the dwindling attendance.

It failed marginally in that respect with a gate of 34,521, almost 2,000 down on the previous year, but those who came were treated to one of the more eventful matches in the series.

Oxford recovered from the second-minute shock of Jon Dawson's try to lead 16-8 before they were undone by a pair of substitute flankers. Tom Malaney, one of the back row replacements, dragged Cambridge back to within striking distance for the outstanding No 8 James Lumby to smash through three tackles and claim the decisive try. Both were converted by Juliano Fiori, the other back row substitute.

Oxford: T: Mahoney. Con: McMahon. Pen: McMahon. DG: McMahon 2. Cambridge: T: Dawson, Malaney, Lumby. Con: Fiori 2. Pen: Broadfoot.