With spirits running high after a down-to-the-wire victory over Oxford Brookes 1st IV last week, the Cambridge 2nd team, the Grasshoppers, arrived in Oxford for a clash which would all but decide the BUCS league champions, with a spot in division Conference 1a at stake.

Three members of the 1sts squad (Rob Legg, Greg Caterer and Michele Gavin-Rizzuto) were recruited in an effort to help stamp  some Tab authority over the other place, and the start was certainly a positive one.

Playing in disgraceful conditions at Oxford’s Iffley Road ground, on gravel-strewn hard courts and driving wind and rain, the doubles matches were split. Legg and Gavin-Rizzuto fought bravely, and with exhibitions of blinding flair frequently coming off Legg’s racket at the most key moments of the match. However, they eventually went down 8-6 to a very talented Oxford 1st pair, containing an established Oxford Blue. On the next court, Caterer and Captain Alex Moynihan managed to grind out a 9-7 victory, often having to employ all the tactics at their disposal to twice come from a break down, along with some gritty passing shots from Moynihan and solid serving from both. At 1-1, it was on to the singles: Legg, playing at number 1, played some scintillating tennis in terrible conditions to out-think and out-hit his Blues opponent, crushing him 6-3, 6-1.

At number 2, Caterer’s wrist injury started to take its toll as he tamely succumbed to an opponent against whom, at full fitness, the match would probably have proved a very different story. Gavin-Rizzuto, playing at 3, ground out a gruelling 3-set win against an opponent who seemed mentally unbreakable, eventually storming to a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 victory with some very powerful groundstrokes eventually proving too strong for Oxford. Alex Moynihan, playing at the 4th singles spot, lost a very tight 3-set match on probably the worst court out of the four available, the harshness of the conditions leading Captain Moynihan to comment that “in every match, I seem to hit at least 5 shots that Federer would be proud of – and at least 10 that a 5-year-old would be disappointed with”.

The Cambridge team returned satisfied but not elated, with a decent 5-5 draw.  This means that the league victory will now be decided on respective scores in the remaining matches played by both Cambridge and Oxford.