The BBC will broadcast the 134th annual Varsity rugby fixture between Oxford and Cambridge Universities at Twickenham in December.

The Corporation has reclaimed the television rights from Sky Sports, ensuring they will broadcast the Men’s fixture live for the next five years, as well as showing highlights of the Women’s fixture, which will be held on the same day as the Men’s for the first time in their history this year.

The move sees the fixture return to a terrestrial screening after a long absence, with the Beeb having first broadcast the fixture back in 1938.

Light Blues Captain, Don Stevens, told Cambridge News: “The game being live on the BBC will make the match more broadly available to rugby fans throughout the UK and across the world and add to the lustre of the fixture.”

"We have a bit of ground to make up on our arch rivals, and we intend to work as hard as is required to stop Oxford making it six (wins) in a row."

Cambridge will be hoping to do just that, having been buoyed by the news that Wales and British Lions Centre Jamie Roberts will play for Cambridge in this year’s fixture.

Roberts, 28, is studying part-time for a Masters degree in medical science at Cambridge, and although he is due to join Harlequins in December, he declared last month that he would don the Light Blue jersey to face the Other Place.

Last year’s fixture saw Oxford make it five wins on the spin thanks to a crushing 43-6 victory, the biggest winning margin in Varsity history.

The addition of Roberts and the now the addition of the watching British public will certainly help the Light Blues in their attempts to end Oxford’s dominance.

The Cambridge Women’s side need no such extra motivation having dismantled Oxford 47-0 at Grange Road earlier this year. They will hope to repeat the feat when they take to the Twickenham turf for an historic first time.

The Varsity fixtures will be held on Thursday 10th December.