Veteran coach Lynn Evans has no doubt who was best player he has worked with.

“I think that has got to be Rob Egerton,” he said. “That guy is a genius.

“He stayed with us over last year’s Varsity Match and played against London Japanese. He still had all the tricks.”

Egerton won Blues for Oxford in 1987 and 1988 before winning the World Cup with Australia in 1991.

Evans added: “The guy was so self-effacing. When he arrived at Iffley Road, I didn’t know he had come.

“We were doing some backs training and this guy with his socks around his ankles kept making fantastic decisions.

“I said to the captain ‘who is that?’.

“He said ‘he’s Rob Egerton, he’s come from Sydney.”

“He had such vision and such pace. When you have that combination, it is lethal.

“He wasn’t a goal-kicker, but we had Brian Smith so we didn’t have to worry about that.”

Egerton was part of Oxford’s 1988 Varsity Match side, which Evans described as the best since World War Two.

How does Evans think the Varsity Match can continue to be a significant Twickenham fixture in modern times?

“Both universities have got to be prepared to see this is a showpiece and not a war of attrition,” he said.

“The other problem is that it is stuck at the end of the autumn internationals.

“They didn’t really exist when I was with the team.”

Evans added: “Hopefully, if one or two more players who are nearing the end of their careers could be encouraged to come to Oxford and Cambridge, they just add a little bit of something.

“Look at Dan Vickerman and Anton Oliver this year.

“It is stories like that that are going to promote the match.”

December’s Twickenham crowd was disappointingly below 30,000, but Evans believes this can be rectified.

He said: “It’s better to have people in the ground on small entrance fees than empty spaces.”