London Welsh chairman Bleddyn Phillips has vowed to launch an appeal to secure Premiership rugby in Oxford as soon as possible.

Phillips saw the Exiles defeat Cornish Pirates 66-41 on aggregate in their Championship final after the second leg at the Kassam Stadium and then declared himself ready for an off-the-field battle with the RFU.

He said: “We will be lodging an appeal in the very near future. I think we would look to try and resolve this in the course of weeks and not months.”

Managing director John Taylor, the former Wales and British Lions flanker, said: “I hope that was the first of many wins at the Kassam Stadium.

“I think you saw there were enough people here. It is hard to market a game with that sort of notice, but we got around 4,000 people.

“The atmosphere was terrific and I thought it was a great occasion.

“Hopefully the Oxford fans enjoyed it and will want to come back.”