Oxford University RFC

The Oxford University Rugby Football Club (Oxford University RFC or OURFC) is the rugby union club of the University of Oxford. The club contests The Varsity Match every year against Cambridge University at Twickenham.

Men's team
The University of Oxford RFC was founded in 1869, fifteen months before the creation of the Rugby Football Union. The first Varsity Match was played in February 1872 in Oxford at 'The Parks', the following year the return game was played in Cambridge on Parker's Piece. In 1874 it was decided that the game be played on a neutral ground. Oxford, like rivals Cambridge, have supplied hundreds of players to national teams, and was key in spreading the sport of rugby throughout Britain as past students brought the game back to their home counties. The very first international player to be capped whilst at Oxford was Cecil Boyle, who represented England in 1873, one season before Cambridge University. In 1951 OURFC became the first Western rugby team to tour Japan after World War II.

OURFC currently has 3 Men's teams: 1st XV Blues, 2nd XV Greyhounds and 3rd XV Whippets. All three teams play Varsity matches against their respective Cambridge opponents. Additionally, there is also a Men's U20s squad which contest their own Varsity Match alongside the Women's 2nd XV.

Major Stanley's Match
Major R. V. Stanley was an Oxford local who took a hearty interest in the development of OURFC, becoming its first representative on the RFU Committee 1903–27. The first recorded Stanley's Match took place in 1919, after the 1914 match was cancelled due to the outbreak of World War I. An invitational squad, similar to the Barbarians, the Major Stanley's XV historically drew in big name players such as Thomas Voyce and William Wavell Wakefield. Major Stanley's Match is an annual fixture played in preparation of the Varsity Match and recent Stanley's XVs have included Cardiff RFC. In 2019, the centenary year of the first Major Stanley's fixture, the Women's Blues faced the first ever Major Stanley's Women's XV.

Women's team
Oxford University WRFC was founded in 1988 and has been playing Cambridge University WRUFC annually since. The first women's Varsity was won by Cambridge; Oxford currently have 20 Varsity victories to Cambridge's 13. Notable players include Sue Day (St John's), who has won 59 England caps.

As of May 2015, Oxford University RFC and Oxford University WRFC have officially merged into one University RFC. 2015 also marked the first year that the women's Varsity Match was held at Twickenham on the same day as the men's game. OURFC Women's 1st XV compete in BUCS Premiership South.

Honours
Oxford University Greyhounds: Oxford University Women's Blues:
 * Hawick Sevens
 * Champions (1): 1925
 * Oxfordshire RFU County Cup winners: 1976
 * BUCS Vase Champions 2017
 * BUCS Vase Runners Up 2019

Notable former players
Oxford University RFC has fielded over 300 international rugby players, many of whom were first Capped during their time playing for the club.

England internationals
The following former Oxford University players have represented England at full international level.


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Stuart Barnes
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ernest Cheston
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Edward Fraser
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Phil de Glanville
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Simon Halliday
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alexander Sergeevich Obolensky
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Rotherham (IRB Hall of Fame inductee)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Richard Sharp
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Victor Ubogu
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Derek Wyatt

Wales internationals
The following former Oxford University players have represented Wales at full international level.


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Gareth Baber
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Onllwyn Brace
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Ian Buckett
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Gareth Davies
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 David Evans
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Walter Rice Evans
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Gwyn Francis
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Billy Geen
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Vivian Jenkins
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Conway Rees
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 John Strand-Jones
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Will Rowlands

Scotland internationals
The following former Oxford University players have represented Scotland at full international level.


 * George Aitken
 * David McLaren Bain
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 John Bannerman
 * David Bell
 * William Berkley
 * Charles Berry
 * William Bolton
 * John Boswell
 * Fletcher Buchanan
 * Pat Burnet
 * Alexander Cairns
 * George Cawkwell
 * Paul Clauss
 * Mac Cooper
 * Ian Coutts
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Jack Crabbie
 * Gerard Crole
 * George Cunningham
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Simon Danielli
 * Hamish Dawson
 * Maurice Dickson
 * Grahame Donald
 * Bill Donaldson
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Dan Drysdale
 * Denoon Duncan
 * Ewen Fergusson
 * Charles Fleming
 * Hector Forsayth
 * Henry Gedge
 * Augustus Grant-Asher
 * Charles Grieve
 * Thomas Hart
 * Chick Henderson
 * Nelson Henderson
 * Gurth Hoyer-Millar
 * Kenneth Jackson
 * Norman Kennedy
 * Peter Kininmonth
 * George Campbell Lindsay
 * Bertie Lorraine
 * Eric Loudoun-Shand
 * Donald MacDonald
 * Chris Mackintosh
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Pat MacLachlan
 * John Marshall
 * Patrick Munro
 * Thomas Arthur Nelson
 * William Renwick
 * William Roughead
 * Douglas Schulze
 * Tennant Sloan
 * Allan Smith
 * Ian Smith
 * Ken Spence
 * Peter Stagg
 * Stephen Steyn
 * Malcolm Swan
 * Edward Taylor
 * Frans ten Bos
 * Bruce Thomson
 * William Thomson
 * Frederick Harding Turner
 * 🇦🇺 Johnnie Wallace
 * Archibald Walker
 * James Walker
 * Mike Walker
 * David Whyte
 * Stewart Wilson
 * Eric Templeton Young

Ireland internationals
The following former Oxford University players have represented Ireland at full international level.


 * 🇮🇪 David Humphreys
 * 🇮🇪 Niall Malone
 * 🇦🇺 🇮🇪 Brian Smith

Other nationalities

 * 🇺🇸 Raymond Burse
 * 🇦🇺 Bill Calcraft
 * 🇺🇸 Nick Civetta
 * 🇦🇺 Troy Coker
 * 🇦🇺 Philip Crowe
 * 🇺🇸 Andrew Durutalo
 * 🇦🇺 Bob Egerton
 * 🇺🇸 Eric Fry
 * Thomas Gubb
 * 🇯🇵 Toshiyuki Hayashi
 * 🇺🇸 Gary Hein
 * 🇳🇿 David Kirk
 * 🇿🇦 Nick Mallett
 * 🇨🇦 Stan McKeen
 * 🇯🇵 Katsuhiko Oku
 * 🇳🇿 Anton Oliver
 * 🇨🇦 Gareth Rees (IRB Hall of Fame inductee)
 * 🇦🇺 Joe Roff
 * 🇦🇺 🇮🇪 Brian Smith
 * 🇨🇦 Kevin Tkachuk
 * 🇦🇺 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Johnnie Wallace