Losing 50-0 would usually be a pretty demoralising experience, but that is not how Oxford University director of rugby Steve Hill saw their hammering at Northampton.

Hill stressed the quality of the Dark Blues’ opponents, who included many established first-teamers, and said morale had not been badly affected.

“I’m not looking for false positives, but for 15 minutes before half-time, we controlled the ball,” said Hill.

“I was pretty pleased with our scrum and line-outs.

“I thought Jules Allfrey (pictured) had a very good game at 13, particularly against someone as strong as Joe Ansbro.

“The toughest challenge was the contact area. Our skipper Dan Rosen told me the first 20 minutes were more ferocious than the Varsity Match.

Last season, Northampton won the Guinness A League, which is a reserve division for Premiership clubs.

Northampton’s coaches said they had put out an even stronger side against Oxford than at Cambridge the previous week when they won 73-14.

Hill added: “Young players like Rhodri James have had the experience of Premiership opposition.

“The first try was a poor one to concede, but at no time did we let our heads go down.

“Twice when we got into their 22, we kicked the ball away. We need to have patience.

“The key thing is to translate that perfromance to Esher next week where we will expect to have parity.

“We will be much harder on them after that game.”