March 17, 2019 – The Croatia rugby team and Oxford University continue their years of comradery with a rugby match in Dubrovnik next month.
The Croatia national rugby team will play a crucial game in the Europe International Championships against Malta in April. To ensure they prepare in the best way possible, the national team will traditionally meet against the always strong rugby team of the famous Oxford University. After Oxford, Zagreb, and Split, these rugby friends will meet in Dubrovnik for the first time, announces Rugby.hr.
During their visit, in the organization of the Croatian Rugby Federation and our youngest Invictus club, which has been active in Dubrovnik for two years and has already gathered around a hundred members, the Croatia and Oxford teams will attend several primary schools and train with children. The Kid’s Rugby Days will also be held in the city where all children interested in rugby can show their skills and learn something new.
The game against Oxford will even have a humanitarian character and aims to help the young Dubrovnik native Gogi Knego who has cerebral palsy. Mark your calendars, Croatia and Oxford will meet on Saturday, April 6, at the Lapad City Stadium at 3 pm.
Oxford University RFC is one of the oldest and most famous amateur rugby teams in the world, as OURFC was established in 1869. Oxford – Cambridge (the so-called Varsity match), which dates back to 1872, is especially famous in the world – and better yet, the first international rugby match between Scotland and England was played that same year. The two most prominent and renowned university rugby teams have met since 1921 in the ‘temple’ of English rugby, in Twickenham, every year at the beginning of December.
More than 300 national players from around ten of the world’s top rugby teams have participated in the long history of the Oxford University RFC. Many of them became true legends in the world of rugby, like Phil de Glanville, Joe Roff, Styrone Howe, Anton Oliver, Simon Halliday, David Kirk, and Rob Egerton.
For Croatia to play against an opponent of such high quality and fame is an exceptional honor and privilege, and it says even more that this is the fifth meeting between the Croatia national team and Oxford University RFC.
The first match was played in Oxford in 2014, and the following two in Zagreb in 2015 and 2016. The Oxford team has been more successful so far, and after the 14:14 result in Oxford, they defeated Croatia twice in Zagreb. Last year, the teams met in Split at Stari Plac where Croatia lost 10:66!
But Croatia and Oxford are not only friends in rugby. You might recall that every year for the Sveti Duje celebrations in Split, the university rowing teams of Oxford and Cambridge race against each other outside of the River Thames for the annual Oxford, Cambridge and Split regatta! The International Rowing Regatta “Sv. Duje” will hold its 18th edition this May.
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