Light Blues brigade rely on Blaikie magic

When they toss up before the start of the 121st Varsity match at Twickenham on Tuesday, a New Zealand dollar would be the appropriate currency for the captains of Cambridge and Oxford. There is a strong Kiwi influence at play with Duncan Blaikie, who leads the Light Blues, and Fraser Gemmell, who leads the Dark Blues, both graduating from the land of the long white cloud.

Indeed Blaikie, who plays open side flanker, is a member of an all-New Zealand back row for Cambridge with Owen Scrimgeour at six and Stewart Eru at No 8. "It's nice to have compatriots around you but I didn't go out of my way to pick Kiwis,'' Blaikie said. They are packing behind a front row that boasts Jason Reilly from Australia and Rudi Bosch from South Africa.

However, with the Southern Cross in the ascendancy Blaikie has been made aware of an old argument, namely that many university places are reserved not so much for classical scholars as sportsmen. "I have heard comments,'' Blaikie said. "And it's annoying that people think that somehow we got in through the back door, that we didn't really deserve to be here. We are proper students who work very hard both in the classroom and on the sports field. We're productive members of the university and it should be viewed in a positive rather than a negative light. Cambridge and Oxford are held in the highest regard so if you get an opportunity to come here you take it. I'm disappointed people think we're here to play rugby and then return home.

"It's very important to do well at our studies but extra curricular activities make you more rounded as a person. You try to get the balance right. I want to do as much as I can with my life and Cambridge has helped me gain skills and knowledge. I love the whole experience.''

Blaikie qualified as a doctor after studying medicine at Otago University and is now taking a two-year degree in law as a post-graduate in Hughes Hall. "If I knew exactly what I was going to do I'd be a happy man,'' he said. "Perhaps the legal side of medicine is the answer.'' He is not unfamiliar with the idea of a physician healing thyself, a strained hamstring incurred in training keeping him out for most of the season. Blaikie, who made his comeback against Newport last week, admits: "I haven't played as much as I'd like but I'm going in fresh.''

Cambridge, who have lost the last three Varsity matches after a period of pre-eminence, are also relieved that Scrimgeour has had a clean bill of health this season after his playing career was threatened by chronic knee injuries. A chemist who is studying politics (he is not unfamiliar with the idea of a pharmacist prescribing thyself) Scrimgeour is a former captain of the All Blacks sevens squad and last season coached the Cambridge backs. A full-back/wing in New Zealand, he has converted to the back row. It takes him about 25 minutes to apply strapping to his knees.

"We were a bit worried about whether Owen would last the course but he's a real stalwart,'' Blaikie said. "He's a bit of a mystery man. Nobody's quite sure how old he is. He and I are a monopoly on the physio's time. We're trying to hold the joints together.'' Blaikie played provincial rugby in 1995 and in the Super 12 with Otago in 1999 and 2000. He had Josh Kronfeld and Marty Holah to contend with. "I gave it my best shot,'' he said. "I had my window and I missed it. I had three years as a professional and now I have another life.'' His full name is Duncan James Oke Blaikie. Oke? The Christian name of his father, a retired judge, is Oke. "Apparently,'' says Blaikie, "The family tree has roots in Okehampton.'' His parents will be at Twickenham and he's hoping his brother John, a lock who plays for Grenoble, will as well.

Blaikie's mode of transport around Cambridge is an antique bicycle which has occasionally endangered his life but has done nothing to harm his fitness. "In Dunedin there are so many hills you need 95 gears. Cambridge is very flat.'' The place was as flat as a punctured tyre 12 months ago after Oxford, with an excellent defence and a smarter game plan, completed the hat-trick.

The Varsity match has had highs and lows, rising from the pathologists' slab in the 1980s when a post-mortem was about to be conducted on what was described as an anachronism. It has recently suffered by the comparison to professionalism but even so a crowd in excess of 50,000 is expected. The days when the sides were crammed with land economy students who happen to be international players have gone. After training last Thursday Blaikie had to produce an essay. And whatever happens many people will be grateful for escaping the dreaming spires on a Tuesday in December.