 According to author and former Oxford rower George Drinkwater, the Dark Blues "did not have any very promising new material from which to make up [their] crew" but was impressed by a "very stylish" Philip Fleming who had been included as Oxford's number seven.Cambridge's coaches worked to re-introduce a more traditional style of rowing but like Oxford, "their material was not very good".Although they lost Eric Fairbairn late in the build-up to the race, Drinkwater considered them to be "a pretty, lively crew to look at".