2 APRIL 1927, Page 3

The hollow victory of Cambridge over Oxford in the University

sports last Saturday has directed the attention of numerous Jeremiahs to the recent inferiority of Oxford in most games and athletic contests. It is possible that the Rhodes Scholars at Oxford have unwittingly had something to do with what is probably, a temporary eclipse. They have been chosen partly for their athletic prowess, and the Oxford undergraduate may have found their skill and seniority too forbidding for him to compete. If there be anything in this explanation it is a wholly unforeseen result of the scholarships. Most people thought that Oxford would he so fortified that Cambridge would ever afterwards have less than a normal chance of winning. Personally, however, we do not believe in these theories of collapse. Both Oxford and Cambridge have had cycles of success and failure. Good men at either University create good men by providing correct models. This is particularly true of rowing. It is diffi- cult, therefore, for a run of failure to be broken, but the Oxford wheel will come full circle again. * * * *