URN

This year's edition of men's Varsity football was always going to be an intriguing affair. Both Uni and Trent have made names for themselves this season as hard-nosed, defensively minded sides who concentrated first and foremost on keeping clean sheets, there was little evidence that this would be a classic. The key question was which team would come out of their comfort zone and try to attack, and take the game. The answer was Uni, and their decision to twist rather than stick proved to be their undoing.

You thought the barging and scratching in netball was as vicious as women's sports get? Think again, because on Monday evening you're going to find out that even a size 8 can land a big hit in a game of rugby - these ladies don't hold back!

Monday night will see Nottingham's finest clash on the hallowed turf of Meadow Lane, home of Nottingham Rugby, to decide which of the universities' rugby sides gets the bragging rights for the year and takes the Varsity Trophy home.

Fresh out of training in the buildup to their season finale vs Trent in the Varsity Series, Mike Timotheou and Chris Plummer of Nottingham University Football Club took the time to speak to Michael Gaffney about their hopes for the fixture. With their biggest game of the season just days away, Mike emphasised the importance of peak fitness to their preparations for the game.

Uni's preparations for this game have been rather different to those of Trent, who haven't played competitively since the end of the BUCS season. Last week the Uni boys faced the huge challenge of facing the force of Loughborough 1sts in the BUCS Cup final. Although the result wasn't ideal, both Chris and Mike agreed the team could take a lot from the experience to drive them forward to their final game.

Overall, the guys agreed they had come through a season to be proud of, beating all expectations by not only retaining the BUCS Premier League status (a notoriously difficult feat for newly promoted teams) but also achieving the incredible feat of running Loughborough all the way for the title, finishing second. Chris and Mike were hopeful that they could maintain that consistency with a win over Trent, who after all compete in the lower BUCS Midlands 1A Division.

In the buildup to the their season-closing fixture versus Trent at Varsity, Gaffers and Simon managed to interview Lucy Sheeran, Sinead King and Amy Leicester from Nottingham University Women's Football Club. The ladies have endured a tough season so far, finishing bottom of the BUCS Premier North Division, and as they told the guys it's made them all the more determined to prevail on Thursday at Meadow Lane.

However, in spite of Lucy's eagerness to brand Trent as a second-tier side (we appreciated the Millwall comparison - certainly representative of their fans so far in the Varsity Series!) Sinead warned that they would be facing a Trent team who are champions of the BUCS Midlands 1A Division and have no shortage of confidence or quality.

With a win for Uni last year and a Trent win on penalties the year before, this fixture has always been one of the most open and fiercely contested on the Varsity calendar. As Sinead emphasised, there really is everything to play for!