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Thanks for the memories Roffy, a true Wallaby legend!
Roff's Oxford lose Varsity match
December 7, 2007 - 7:02AM
Former Wallaby Joe Roff ended his rugby career in defeat as Oxford captain when his side lost the 126th annual Varsity match against Cambridge 22-16 at Twickenham.
Roff, capped 86 times for Australia, played a key role, switching from the centres to fullback as the Dark Blues fought back from 8-0 down in the first half to take a 16-8 lead.
They suffered a scare midway through the second term when Thomas Malaney scored a try for Cambridge and Juliano Fiori converted, closing the gap to just one point at 16-15 in Oxford's favour.
But the turning point came in the 65th minute when Cambridge No.8 James Lumby ran over for a try, which Fiori converted to hand the Light Blues a six-point advantage.
Magnanimous in defeat - his second in a varsity match after making his debut in Oxford's 15-6 loss last year - Roff congratulated Cambridge captain Ross Blake and his team.
"I have to give an immense amount of credit to Ross and Cambridge for the way they played the match ... they deserved that victory," Roff said.
"To come back from 16-8 and keep their composure under a lot of pressure was a great credit to them."
Oxford spent the last minute of the match within a few metres of the try line desperately fighting to break through the stubborn Cambridge defence but to no avail.
When they finally cleared the ball, a fumble in the dying seconds killed off any hope of a last-gasp win by the Dark Blues.
Roff, who is in the second and final year of a prestigious politics, philosophy and economics course at Oxford, announced before the game it would be his last before retirement.
The 32-year-old veteran of three Australian World Cup campaigns said he had mixed feelings of disappointment and pride following his final match.
"With 10 minutes to go we felt that we still were well and truly in the game," he said.
"When we threw everything at them, that's probably what I'm most proud about.
"Right to the very last second of that game we hadn't at any stage given up and we were applying pressure and we thought that we could still take that game."
It was the third straight win for Cambridge in the fixture between the rival universities and the Light Blues now lead the series 60-52, with 14 draws.
Cambridge coach Tony Rodgers was thrilled with his team's ability to hold their nerve.
"That defence in the last five minutes epitomised the whole attitude of the squad, it was fantastic," Rodgers said.
"That's probably one of the most exciting games I've been involved with, the blood pressure's gone right through the ceiling."
AAP