Roger Smith has been a keen spectator at the Varsity Match every year for the past 50 years, ever since he started going with friends as an undergraduate studying natural sciences at St John’s College, Cambridge.

He was there to drown his sorrows after Oxford’s 51st win when the final score stood at 9-6 on December 11th last year. Oxford’s third successive win still leaves Cambridge ahead, however, with 56 wins to their credit, 13 matches having ended in a draw.

“We started off six friends from college and four of us still come every year,” said Roger, now aged 70 and a retired manager with the ICL computing company, who played for Letchworth’s first XV for more than a decade. “It’s always a great day and a bit of an excuse to pretend we are still young undergraduates.”