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With the scores poised at 1-1 in this year’s Varsity, Uni fans will be forgiven for their supreme confidence of retaking the series lead after a look at the calendar. Tomorrow at 1pm, Uni will take to the water and look to build on their unbeaten record at Swimming Varsity.

With guidance from veteran coach, Alex Thurston, the Uni team are eager to get into the water and assert their dominance. History suggests this should be a whitewash: Trent’s best finish is a tie for first place in last year’s men’s 100m backstroke. Year on year, Trent have improved, but they still go into the pool tomorrow as huge underdogs.

URN was fortunate enough to catch up with several members of the Uni team at their training session ahead of the big day, and managed to get their predictions for when Uni and Trent lock horns again.

Men’s Captain, Phil Noone:

Backstroke expert, Gerald Michael:

General Secretary and Treasurer, Natalie Steele:

Breaststroke specialist, Alex Diamond:

Make sure you get down to the University Pool ahead of the 1pm start. If you can’t make it, be sure to check out URN’s text updates from poolside throughout the day at urn1350.net: Your Number One Varsity Source

After the disappointment of Superbowl weekend when American Football Varsity was postponed, the mantle of the opening fixture of this year’s series fell to Rugby League. And it didn’t fail to excite.

With the Uni Seconds being convincingly beaten in the earlier game of the day, one could certainly forgive First Team Captain Olly Beech and the rest of his team for feeling the pressure. Trent came into the fixture as firm favourites after a more convincing season than Uni’s stop-start year, and it looked certain to be a day for the form book as Trent built a convincing lead in the first half.

Uni began the game with several mistakes, and Trent looked set to capitalise until a knock on over the line allowed the underdogs some respite. But fortune looked to have run out by the quarter-hour mark, with Trent scoring two tries in quick succession after a smart grubber and indiscipline on the part of Uni. Both times, however, they missed their kicks, putting the score at 8-0.

After the initial opening match of the 2012 Varsity series was postponed due to bad weather on Superbowl weekend, the Nottingham Outlaws and Trent Renegades will lock horns on the 2nd of March in a potential postseason decider; with the winners likely to grab an elusive playoff position at the expense of their rival.

URN will be providing LIVE text updates from the game, as well as providing more pre-match coverage ahead of the big day. Check out urn1350.net in the build-up to stay informed. Match begins at 7:30pm.

URN: Your Number One Varsity Source

Ladies and Gentlemen, Are You Ready? Lets. Play. Darts!

Those famous words rang out over a packed Rock City, Darts’ spiritual home and with no further ado Rob 'The Javelin' Mayne of Nottingham and Joe 'The Mophead' Stimson of Trent were led to the stage to rapturous applause. While Stimson played to the crowd, Mayne stepped up and took his practise darts with a cool focus. The first leg went the way of the entertainer, with steady scoring complimented by a casual 55 checkout. The second leg followed, the crowd firmly behind their players and despite some excellent darts, the elusive treble 20 proved hard to find for Mayne. A truly excellent 94 checkout broke Uni hearts, handing Stimson the match and Trent an early 1-0 lead.

The second match swiftly followed, with Dan 'The Car' Parker' facing Trent’s Jake 'The Hairy Monster' Ashgar (guilty of a frankly disappointing lack of hair). Some steady scoring handed Parker a chance to take Uni’s first leg of the tournament with the professionals’ favourite double 16 and he duly obliged, sending the crowd wild. Unfortunately he was unable to make the momentum show, with Ashgar cruising to the second leg. The third and decisive leg saw the Trent player checkout a cool 58, leaving Parker wondering what went wrong. 2-0 Trent.

After the disappointment of having the traditional opening Varsity American Football encounter postponed until March, Rugby League has now taken the mantle of the first official, point-scoring tie of 2012. URN was able to speak to Tommy Lloyd, Olly Beech and Mike Butcher (President, First Team Captain and Secretary respectively) on the Thursday night Sport Show, to get their views on all things rugby league ahead of the match this weekend.

After the disappointment of losing last year’s fixture 14-24, and another loss earlier this season at Clifton, Lloyd, Beech and Butcher were all pumped up and motivated ahead of the upcoming game. All three players agreed that the Uni forwards look particularly strong going into the game, and despite a difficult BUCS season, Uni stand a strong chance of picking up the first official Varsity point of the series.

While the Uni personnel who spoke to URN appeared intensely focused on the challenge at hand, it could be said that their counterparts at Trent have taken a more controversial approach in the build up to tomorrow’s derby match; posting a video online which has ruffled a few feathers on University Park. While no video retort has been given, it is clear that the Uni team, led by Lloyd and Beech, are looking for vengeance.