2026 BUCS National Fencing Finals

University of St Andrews vs University of Oxford

In record breaking fashion, the University of St Andrews fencing club attended their first ever National Finals in club history. After a supreme regular season the team won the Premier North title by placing 1st in the league. The team travelled down to Loughborough to compete against their long time academic rivals - Oxford. A "Varsity" match if you will, but competed for on the biggest sporting stage of the UK.

The match was as thrilling and heated as it gets, as St Andrews did not have any specialist Épée fencers, they trailed by a 12 point deficit following the Épée round. However, the St Andrews team put up dominating performance in foil to abolish deficit entirely, leading both teams into a tense and dramatic fence-off in Sabre.

Both teams traded blows fiercely in the final sabre round, with Oxford edging ahead to a 35–33 lead as the bout entered its decisive final stage - a race to 45. Although St Andrews found themselves on the back foot, Singaporean fencer Jerome Gan stepped up to deliver a composed, relentless performance, clawing his team back into the lead at 40–37. Despite Oxford's aggressive final push, German captain Anderson Bull ultimately held his nerve, staying calm and unfazed.

After quite literally the best showcase of fencing this University has ever seen, St Andrews were crowned national champions with a score of 45-40 (135-132).

From their first semi-final appearance to being crown national champions;

this little team from fife stormed into glory, in one perfect try.