The 133rd Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge Universities at Twickenham this afternoon will feature three Scots.
The encounter, first played in 1872, has added significance this year as it will be dedicated to the 27 Oxford Blues and 28 Cambridge Blues who lost their lives in the First World War.
Oxford need one more win to make it five in a row and create a Dark Blue record for the fixture while Cambridge still leads the overall series by 61 wins to 57.
George Smith and Fraser Gillies feature in the Cambridge starting XV while fellow countryman Graeme MacGilchrist is on the bench for Oxford.
Smith, a winger and a former Glenalmond pupil, has played in the under-21 meeting between the sides but said: "I feel my rugby has come on this year and being in the first team squad has seen me dedicate a lot of time to it. The juggle between studies and rugby can be tough at times, but it is worth it to play in such a big match.
"I have worked hard and to be able to start the match at Twickenham is something really excited; I am looking forward to a number of my family coming down to watch me play."
At inside-centre in the same backline will be the former Scotland under-17 captain Gillies. He helped Edinburgh Academy win the Brewin Dolphin Scottish Schools Cup at under-18 level in 2009/10 and has since had a spell at the Racing Metro academy and studied for a degree at Exeter University.
A summer tour to the United States with the rugby club helped him settle into life at Cambridge. "It helped me to get to know the guys and really get to grips with the standard of rugby that was played here," he said. "We like to play an exciting brand of rugby to keep up the traditions set by previous teams and being a part of that is great."
At 26, MacGilchrist, a former George Watson's College captain, is the most experienced of the trio and was also on the bench when Oxford won 33-15 last year. Having played for Scotland Under-19s and Under-20s as well as Watsonians, Tynedale and other clubs, the PhD student has a lot of rugby under his belt.
A second-row/back-row, he said: "For people not involved with the two universities, it is perhaps difficult to understand why the match is so big, but the history of the fixture and the calibre of players who have played in it in the past makes it so special. We have a good squad with a lot of competition for places and it is exciting each year to see the new players come in and show what they can do. Hopefully I can come off the bench and make an impact like last year, and help us record another victory."
Oxford University: Jacob Taylor; Ed Doe, Matt Janney, Alexander Macdonald, Henry Lamont; George Cullen, Sam Egerton; Lewis Anderson, Nick Gardner, Ian Williams, Fergus Taylor, Tom Reeson-Price, Fraser Heathcote, George Messum, Gus Jones. Subs: James Wisson, James Scaife, Guy Western, Graeme MacGilchrist, Will Thomas, Henry de Berker, Henry Hughes, Basil Strang.
Cambridge University: Sam Allen; Ilia Cherezov, Toby May, Fraser Gillies, George Smith; Don Stevens, Harry Peck; Will Briggs, Tom Pascoe, Jacob Poulton, Jack Baker, Rob Hall, Richard Bartholomew, Sam Farmer, Hugo Kelly. Subs: Max Montgomery, Oliver Exton, Frank Sanders, Charlie O'Sullivan, Daniel Dass, Seb Tullie, John Wylde, Andy Rees
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article