The Universities of Bath and Exeter faced each other over the weekend in the largest student sporting event in the history of the University of Bath – the ‘Best of the South West’ varsity.
The inaugural event saw Bath winning local bragging rights in front of more than 3,000 spectators over the six sports on show, Bath coming out five-one winners overall.
The stand out result of the day came in the morning with Bath defeating Exeter’s Men’s Rugby League side, previously unbeaten in two years. The 28-26 score line reflected a close fought encounter in front of the largest crowd of the campus events.
Bath Men's Rugby Union emerged 12-7 winners in a fiercely contested match.
The morning events also saw Bath’s Netball 2nd VII team coming out 50-31 winners over Exeter’s 1st VII and the Women’s Football 1st XV emerging 6-0 victors. Exeter ran out 46-5 winners in the Women’s Rugby Union.
As the event moved into the afternoon the perfect weather set the scene for the Men’s Football match at Twerton Park. The crowd of over 300 containing a mixture of students and members of the local community created a carnival-like atmosphere. Exeter threatened to spoil the party early on with a spectacular volley on the turn from 15 yards out giving the visitors the lead 10 minutes in. Despite this, Bath fought their way back in front with a penalty either side of half time both taken by Jason Henley resulting in a 2-1 victory in a game which could have swung either way.
Pete Sellwood, Bath City FC Community Sports Foundation Chairman and Director of Bath City FC said: “It has been a fantastic day that has shown the University of Bath’s strong partnership with Bath City FC and the Bath Community. Children from Bath City FC Community Sports Foundation, who are coached by some of the students, acted as a guard of honour for the teams when they ran out onto the pitch making it a very special occasion.”
This victory ensured an overall series win for Bath, still with the hotly anticipated grand finale between the Universities’ Men’s Rugby Union sides.
A crowd of just over 3,000 made their way to the home of Bath Rugby, The Recreation Ground where the game was being staged in spectacular fashion.
Having lost to Exeter in the varsity fixture earlier in the season, Bath were in a determined mood and took a 5-0 lead into half time, Sam Miller the try scorer. Despite this, Exeter fought back into a 7-5 lead just nine minutes after the break. However, Bath’s responded superbly and pushed on ahead with what was to prove the match winning penalty try and a conversion by Zak Vinnicombe, securing an emphatic final score of 12-7.