Oxford University captain John Carter felt his side produced one of the best displays he had witnessed to destroy Cambridge.

The No 8, who announced his retirement afterwards, set a records by skippering Oxford and winning for a third successive time.

“I just feel very lucky to be afforded the opportunity to do that,” said Carter.

“It was the best performance I have seen from them this season.

“I would say it was one of the best performances I have seen ever in terms of contact.

“They just had a mental drive to go forward in everything they did.”

Carter added: “I planned to retire before the game, but I just wanted to keep it down until afterwards.

“There’s about 19 muscles in my body telling me this is it, asking me to finish.”

Carter also revealed that had injured flanker James Harris not been taken to hospital, he would have collected the trophy in recognition of his efforts as stand-in skipper this season.

Cambridge captain Will Briggs said: “We completely respected Oxford, but there is one thing respecting them and another stopping them.”

Head coach Andy Key said: “We felt the contact area was an area where we would at least be able to match them, but they really did come at us, probably a bit more than we thought they would.”