DEFENCES, the professional mantra runs, win matches and for more than 80 minutes Cambridge University remained in contention on the back of their tackling. Not until the fifth minute of time added on did Oxford University ensure victory in their 123rd meeting at Twickenham yesterday. When they did, it was no more than they deserved.

They dominated territory and possession throughout the second half, but it took an inspired substitution to secure the decisive try. Ross Lavery had been on the wing for no more than two minutes when his fresh legs carried him past two despairing defenders and over the line with his first touch of the ball.

Importantly, for the future of this annual fixture, it was a game of cut and thrust played before 40,309 spectators. There was no shortage of ambition from either team and if the pace dropped in the second half, it was because Oxford had begun the wearing-down process that kept them almost permanently in the opposing half, only to founder on the twin rocks of the Cambridge centres and the immense work of the Light Blues back row.

“Both sides played some tremendously positive rugby,” Steve Hill, the Oxford director of rugby, said. “With that attitude, you get mistakes and turnovers, but it made for an exciting game.”

Indeed, if Aki Abiola, the Cambridge wing, had seized on a charged-down kick in the final quarter in the Oxford 22, he would have scored a try from which Oxford might have found it hard to come back. But he knocked on and the chance never came again, Cambridge surrendering the MMC Trophy that they had held for the previous two years.

Whether they would have clung on if Nic Alberts, the blind-side flanker, had remained on the field is open to doubt, so strong were Oxford at the scrum and in the loose, where the two back rows fought it out tooth and nail. Alberts, the experienced South African, was Cambridge’s tactical weapon whose speed and size they hoped to utilise.

But he mistimed a tackle on Ben Durham, his opposite number, and was concussed as his head hit the ground in the second quarter. The match was held up for nearly nine minutes while he was carried off, although he was back on his feet by the final whistle and suffered no serious injury.

The tension of the occasion showed from the kick-off, when David Lubans, the Oxford captain, was taken out in the air by Alberts and there was the rare sight in the university match of a fracas. It was the first of a flurry of penalties in Oxford’s favour, the Cambridge scrum being twisted and turned, although, to their credit they fought out a holding operation as the game progressed.

Jonathan Fennell, whose game a year earlier had lasted only four minutes, succeeded with his second attempt at goal, but midway through the first half Cambridge forged 5-3 in front. Ben Wheeler, outstanding at No 8 throughout, looped round at a close-range lineout in a move that Oxford attempted unsuccessfully in 2003; this time Wheeler flipped the ball back to his hooker, Allan Gladstone, who slid into the corner.

It was to Oxford’s credit that the delay for Alberts’ injury did not affect their rhythm. They created phase play, which Cambridge seldom managed, with Tony Knox, the full back, and Fennell going close, and after some good work by Anton van Zyl at lock, Ali James, the centre, sent Knox in for a try that Fennell converted.

Dafydd Lewis, the Cambridge fly half, narrowed the gap to 10-8 when Oxford were penalised at a ruck before the interval, but thereafter Cambridge had to play at long range.

Jon Ufton pumped over a 43-metre penalty to restore Cambridge’s lead, before James Whittingham’s break and a ruck infringement saw Fennell’s penalty snatch it back. It was, though, a further 24 minutes before they made the game safe; James made the crucial break, Van Zyl appeared in midfield and his inside pass gave Lavery his opportunity.

HOW THEY LINED UP AT TWICKENHAM

SCORERS: Cambridge University: Try: Gladstone (20min). Penalty goals: Lewis (40+12), Ufton (52). Oxford University: Tries: Knox (38), Lavery (80+5). Conversion: Fennell. Penalty goals: Fennell 2 (12, 61).

SCORING SEQUENCE (Cambridge University first): 0-3, 5-3, 5-10, 8-10 (half-time), 11-10, 11-13, 11-18.

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY: J Ufton (Whitgift and St Edmund’s); N Toy (St Kentigern’s, Auckland and St Edmund’s; rep: C Desmond, Haileybury and Girton, 66), S Frost (Kingsway HS, Durban and Hughes Hall, captain), A Carter (King’s, Parramatta and St Edmund’s), A Abiola (Wellington and St Catharine ’s); D Lewis (Millfield and Hughes Hall), B Dormer (Christ’s College, Christchurch and St Edmund’s); J Cure (Denstone and St Edmund’s; rep: J Greenblatt, Bournemouth GS and Corpus Christi, 73), A Gladstone (Gordonstoun and St Edmund’s), T Kirkman (Loughborough GS and St Edmund’s), P Robinson (Douai and Emmanuel), A Gilbert (RGS High Wycombe and Fitzwilliam), N Alberts (Afrikaanse HS, Pretoria and Hughes Hall; rep: A Walters, Tadcaster GS and Hughes Hall, 27), N McGarry (Haberdashers’ Aske’s and Trinity Hall), B Wheeler (Oakham and St Edmund’s).

OXFORD UNIVERSITY: A Knox (St Andrew’s, Grahamstown and Keble; rep: J Gaunt, Monmouth and Worcester, 47-52); J Boto (Ipswich and University), A James (King Alfred’s, Wantage and Wolfson), J Whittingham (King Henry VIII Coventry and St Cross), J Bradshaw (Rondebosch Boys HS and Exeter; rep: Gaunt, 75); J Fennell (Dublin HS and Pembroke), C Mezger (Radley and Wycliffe Hall; rep: R Lavery, Oundle and St John’s, 80+3); P Laffin (Wallace HS, Lisburn and St Cross), A Dalgleish (Bedford and St Anne’s), S Brophy (Belvedere College and St Catherine’s), D Lubans (Warners Bay HS, NSW and St Anne’s, captain), A van Zyl (Rondebosch Boys HS and Templeton; rep: A Harris, Hayle Community and St Cross, 80+9), B Durham (Pate’s GS and Keble), R Woods (Blackrock College and St Anne’s), T Hayman (Mount St Mary’s and St Cross).

Referee: S Lander.