One player will make history if Oxford beat Cambridge in the 121st Varsity Match at Twickenham next Tuesday - and he's an American, who could end up playing for Malta!

Adam Russell, their 6ft 4ins lock forward, would become the first Dark Blue in the long and distinguished history of this traditional fixture to play in four successive winning sides.

On the two occasions that Oxford have won four times in a row - 1881-84 and 1948-51 - no-one played in more than three of them.

So Russell, a Rhodes Scholar who is in his seventh year as a postgraduate studying anthropology, could be an unlikely record-holder.

What's an American doing playing rugby in the first place?

"I took up the game in my last two years at Duke University in North Carolina," explained the 30-year-old. "The drinking age limit in the United States is 21, so if you play rugby, it gives you access to alcohol."

Russell, who had never heard the term 'Blue' before he arrived at Oxford in October 1996, was also inspired by the legendary Peter Dawkins, who became an American Football star and Vietnam war hero after winning three rugby blues for Oxford from 1959-61.

Injury prevented Russell playing any rugby in his first two years at Oxford, but he was all set to win his first Blue in 1998, when he broke his leg a fortnight before the Varsity Match.

Oxford went on to suffer their fifth defeat in the row.

To make up for lost time, Russell actually played both rugby union and league in 1999, when he helped the Dark Blues start their winning Twickenham streak.

"It's very easy for an American to hold a rugby record as the first American to win this, that and the other," he said.

"To become the first Oxford player ever to win four Varsity Matches in a row, would be a legitimate one.

It is ironic that but for the broken leg in 1998, he would not have been able to play this year.

A rule, established in 1983, states that a graduate student can win no more than four Blues. This year Cambridge's Angus Innes fell victim to it.

Russell, who is writing a 98,000-word thesis on 'The Crises in Masculinity' wants to enter the diplomatic corps.

But there will still be time for rugby. Having twice suffered injury after being pickedfor the United States A squad, he could now turn his attentions towards becoming an international for Malta.

Russell, who is soon to wed his Maltese fiance Marissa, has noted that the island has been on the look-out for rugby players, and being married to a Maltese would make him eligible.

"However it's more likely that I will play for New York Athletic Club, which has a strong Oxford connection, when I return to America."

Russell did not expect to be back in Oxford this year. "I was going to return to the US to finish my thesis", he said.

"But I love Oxford. It's culture of study was important to me and I would have missed the rugby.

"And of course, I can still have the occasional drink!"