Former New Zealand captain Anton Oliver will line up against Wallaby lock Dan Vickerman in next Thursday's Nomura Varsity match at Twickenham Stadium.
With 59 caps under his belt, the All Black hooker and Canadian flanker Stan McKeen (21 caps) will be aiming to redress the balance for Oxford, who have lost the last three encounters.
But they will have to contend with Cambridge's new signing Vickerman, former All Black centre Mark Ranby (one cap) and USA scrum half Doug Rowe (two caps).
Capped 54 times for Australia, Vickerman helped the Wallabies to a second place finish in this year's Tri-Nations before heading to England to further his studies.
Oxford captain Peter Clarke said, "Leaders like these guys will bring invaluable experience, especially for our younger players; our winger Sean Morris is a fresher and our fly half, Ross Swanson is only 19 years old.
"But we won't just be relying on them. It's very much a team effort and if we're to get the win, everyone from one to 22 will have to do their jobs."
Cambridge have 60 victories to their opponents' 52 (the match has been drawn on 14 occasions), but Light Blues' captain Jon Dawson knows that adding to that tally will be tough. " We're not looking at the past, we're a different set of players who and treating this as a one-off game. Oxford have had a very good season, they're a very good side," said the former Harlequins prop.
"There is a younger element to our team but we've got a lot of experience, particularly in guys like Dan and Mark. It's a good blend and we'll certainly be giving it all we can."
The 127th Oxford v Cambridge battle, sponsored by Nomura, will be played at Twickenham Stadium on Thursday, December 11 (kick off 2pm).
Cambridge
15. Jimmy Richards (Hughes Hall)
14. James Wellwood* (St Edmund's)
13. Chris Lewis* (St. Catharine's)
12. Mark Ranby# (St. Edmund's)
11. James Greenwood* (Hughes Hall)
10. Sandy Reid* (St. John's)
9. Doug Rowe# (Hughes Hall)
1. Niall Conlon (St Edmund's)
2. Matt Crockett (St Edmund's)
3. Jon Dawson* (captain, St Edmund's)
4. Marty Wilson (Selwyn)
5. Dan Vickerman# (Hughes Hall)
6. Will Jones (St Edmund's)
7. Tom Malaney* (St Edmund's)
8. Trevor Boynton* (Hughes Hall)
Replacements
16. Andy Daniel (St Edmund's)
17. Patrick Crossley (Homerton)
18. Conor O'Keeffe (St Edmund's)
19. Charlie Rees* (St Catharine's)
20. Joe Wheeler* (St Edmund's)
21. Rhidian McGuire (Hughes Hall)
22. Scott MacLellan (St John's)
Oxford
15. Chris Mahony* (Keble)
14. Sean Morris (Somerville)
13. Jon Burnett (University)
12. Tom Gregory* (Kellogg)
11. Tim Catling (Pembroke)
10. Ross Swanson (New)
9. Brendan McKerchar* (Keble)
1. Ricky Lutton* (Linacre)
2. Anton Oliver# (Worcester)
3. Wayne Thompson (St Cross)
4. Ian Kench (St Cross)
5. Bert Payne* (St Peter's)
6. Stan McKeen# (Harris Manchester)
7. Peter Clarke* (captain, St Cross)
8. Peter Wright* (University)
Replacements
16. Dan Rosen* (Worcester)
17. Kevin Davis* (Linacre) or Will Johnson (Pembroke)
18. Nic Van Zyl (Green/Templeton)
19. Chris Davies (St Edmund Hall)
20. Toby Henry (Linacre)
21. Alex Cheesman (St Edmund Hall)
22. Will Browne (Balliol)
# Denotes International
