Oxford University suffered 5-2 defeats for both their men’s and women’s fencers in their Varsity Match against Cambridge at Loughborough University.

But Dark Blues’ captain Harriet Dixon, who also competes for Team GB, praised the team spirit in the Oxford camp.

She insisted they can win the title 2016, despite her absence on a year abroad.

Dixon said: “Everyone is a bit upset that we lost.

“Bit was a strong result for us because that’s the closest we’ve come against Cambridfor years.”

“At the end of the day Cambridge fenced well and were better than us.”

 British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for higher education sport in the UK, representing 170 institutions and facilitating 52 sport programmes.

BUCS have been shortlisted for Governing Body of the Year at the BT Sports Industry Awards 2015 and is supported by Deloitte www.bucs.org.uk