Newbury Second XV against Oxford University wouldn't necessarily be the most exciting of fixtures. But on Tuesday 3 October at Monks Lane, there was more interest than usual in the match, thanks to the presence of a new Oxford student.  | | Joe Roff - Wallabies v Scotland |
A certain Joe Roff, with 76 caps for Australia and two World Cup finals already on his CV, has just started a two-year post-graduate degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Last night was the first chance to see Roff playing for the Dark Blues in England. Newbury beat the students 39-16. After the game, our rugby reporter, Graham McKechnie, spoke to the great Australian… Excerpts from the interview: "It's certainly a smaller crowd but it was a lot of fun out there, the enthusiasm of the students is fantastic and it's really rubbing off on me and I'm really enjoying playing with them. "It's difficult because you start a season where everyone in the team comes together for the first time and you've only a short time, three months, to work towards the biggest game of the year which is the Varsity match, so we're sorting out a few combinations at the moment and we're still a long way off but we're having a lot of fun out there tonight."  | | Joe Roff - Brumbies v Crusaders |
"It was always something that I wanted to do, I certainly wanted to set up a foundation for post-rugby and I can't think of a better place to do it than at Oxford. To ween myself off rugby and still enjoy it but then hopefully pick up a good degree at Oxford University will hopefully set the foundation for post-rugby life which unfortunately has to come to all of us at some stage. "I desperately want to be part of a winning Oxford side. "I'm definitely able to enjoy it. I think that the guys in the team really have the balance between their commitment to rugby and other aspects of their lives. There's some talented guys in our squad, they could go on to play professionally if that's what they choose to do. "Certainly it is not as professional as teams that I've been a part of but that's part of what's positive about playing for Oxford University." | 
