Location Cambridge, England Union Rugby Football Union | Ground Grange Road, Cambridge Founded 1872 | |
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Full name Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club Profiles | ||
The Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club, sometimes abbreviated "CURUFC", is the rugby union club of the University of Cambridge. The team plays Oxford University RFC in the annual Varsity Match at Twickenham Stadium every December.
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Cambridge players wear light blue and white hooped jerseys with a red lion crest. Many have gone on to represent their country and the British and Irish Lions; a few, most notably Dan Vickerman, have represented Cambridge after successful international careers. Whilst at Cambridge University James Bevan became the first captain of the Wales national rugby union team.
History
Football is believed to have been introduced to Cambridge University in 1839 by Trinity College fresher Albert Pell. Pell had matriculated at Cambridge after going up from Rugby School, where the game of rugby is believed to have originated. Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club was officially established in 1872, around three years after the Oxford rugby club was founded. The first Varsity match was contested between the two teams on 10 February 1872. The Cambridge team was led out by captain Isaac Cowley Lambert, wearing pink jerseys with a monogram on the left breast. Played away at the Park in Oxford, Cambridge lost by a single goal to nil. CURUFC officials helped to draw up the laws of the game that were adopted by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) when it was established in 1871. Cambridge became a Constituent Body of the Union in 1872, a status which the club still holds today. In 1874, Cambridge provided their first international player directly from the club, when John Batten represented England in the third encounter against Scotland.
British and Irish Lions
The following former players were selected for the British and Irish Lions touring squads whilst playing for Cambridge University.
International players
The following former players represented a national team whilst playing for Cambridge University:
The following Cambridge players won international honours before playing for Cambridge: