Next month's Varsity Match at Twickenham will have an extra edge to it after a former Cambridge University captain was barred from playing in the showpiece event.

Angus Innes will not get the chance to win a fifth Blue on Tuesday, December 10.

The 29-year-old Australian second row has fallen foul of a rule preventing graduates from playing in more than four Varsity Matches.

And Innes has criticised what he sees as Oxford's double standards over eligibility.

"I am devastated," he said. "I have played in the last three losing games and I wanted to put the record straight before leaving Cambridge next Easter.

"I am particularly disappointed that Oxford should have raised the the issue when we have overlooked the dubious qualifications of several of their players in recent years."

Oxford's director of rugby, Steve Hill, hit back, however.

"I've no idea what Angus is talking about," Hill said. "All our players are qualified. We check them out very carefully and I am assuming that Cambridge do the same with their players.

"Angus obviously wanted to play this year. I don't know why - he has lost the last three and it seems strange that he wants to come to Twickenham and lose again.

"Angus had decided that he wants to have a rant about it, and he has decided to pick on me."

It has been reported that Hill complained about Innes to the Blues Committee, the body that governs eligibility for Varsity Matches.

But Hill rejected this version of events.

"I just happened to ask the Cambridge director of rugby, Dick Tilley, whether he knew that Angus was actually ineligible, and their skipper came back to me two weeks later to confirm that he would not be playing.

"It's a non-event as far as I am concerned. He was never eligible in the first place.

"Angus hasn't studied at the university for a year - he's been down in London - but that is another matter entirely."