Sam Egerton said the gouging incident that saw him sent off in the Varsity Match was accidental.

The scrum half, who is a law student, asked Oxford captain John Carter to speak on his behalf after the match.

“Sam is very apologetic for anything that could be construed from it,” said Carter. “As far as we are aware, it was purely accidental.

“Bringing the game into disrepute is never a good thing and it was just an unfortunate incident.”

“It wasn’t meant with any malice and he has told me it was accidental.”

Egerton’s red card will now be dealt with via an Oxford University RFC disciplinary hearing.

Carter added: “I think it is very important that he doesn’t get dragged down by it.

“At the end of the day, both teams are celebrating the four months that we have had preparing for this.

“We don’t want anything like this coming in the way of that.”

Lewis Anderson was delighted with how Oxford’s scrum performed in the victory.

The loosehead prop shone at Twickenham alongside tighthead Ian Williams and hooker Nick Gardner.

“We were obviously delighted,” said Anderson. “A lot of the credit goes to the guys who were behind us.

“There was a lot of power coming through and it all came together well.

“I was just really delighted to do a job for the rest of the team. Everyone put in a huge effort today. There was great play throughout the pitch.”

He added: “I think that was probably the best scrummaging performance of our season.”