CAVALIERS CUP

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The Oxford Lancers and the Oxford Brookes Panthers used to be one team: The Cavaliers. The Oxford Cavaliers won the National Championship in 2001-02 season.

Under Bucs rules the Cavaliers had to split to form two teams. The Panthers joined the Bucs league a little while before the Lancers. However in their first official season the Lancers faced the Panthers in a league game, and every game since between these two teams has been known as the Cavaliers’ Cup.

To add some heat to the match up the game is usually hosted around the Superbowl weekend.

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After losing the first two Cavalier Cups under Carl Marshall the Lancers defensive co-ordinator-Andy McKenzie was promoted to Head coach and the Cavalier Cup was his first game.

The game happened to be mid season , and the team had to digest a new play book with very little prep time. However the Lancers came away with a hard fought 13-6 victory, a very much David and Goliath matchup, where the small squad of 18 Lancers defeated the cross town rival and so called “bigger brother”.

This win not only kick started an eleven game win streak for the Lancers but the following season he engineered two more wins against the Panthers. These last two games were played in the same 15/16 season.

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In 2016/18 season, the Lancers had been promoted to division 1 from the season before and thus the two teams were in separate divisions. Under new H.C Adam Goldstein, the Lancers still faced the Panthers but this time in a pre-season friendly. Scores were not recorded and the game was not an official Cavalier Cup but it still kept the players hungry for the rivalry.

In 2017/18 , the Lancers went behind early on. They looked like possibly making a comeback at 13-7 down, but a fumble and two quick Panther strikes put the game away and the Panthers stopped the Lancer’s three game win streak against them, tying the series to 3-3

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In 2018/19 new Lancers H.C Ian Hiscock faced his former coach from his own playing days- Nick Wykes, to add some more juice to this heated rivalry. After a date change because of the weather, the Lancers hosted the game at Tilsley park, a venue where they have seen good fortunes- two huge wins against their old rivalry Cambridge Pythons.

The 3-2 Panthers needed a win for a possible play off place, while the 2-4 Lancers were playing for pride. Coach Ian’s team got off to a flying and were 21-0 up in minutes and never looked back, scoring 48 points and shutting the Panthers out, thus becoming the biggest win in this Cup’s history.

In 2019/20 it was Hiscock Vs Wykes part ii. The Panthers were hungry for revenge from the year before, while the Lancers were mainly made up of rookies. The game was hosted at the Oxford Blues Rugby stadium with around 300 people in attendance.

The Panthers started strong running the ball and got a defensive Touchdown putting them 14-0 up. The Lancers pulled a Td back before the break, and added another straight away in the second half, but again failed twice the conversion. The Lancers D practically shut out the Panthers for the whole second half, but in the end time ran out and the Panthers won 14-12, which tied the series 3-3