RUGBY stars of the future took to the hallowed turf of Twickenham to show off their schools’ new rugger kit – which they helped to design alongside the makers of England and New Zealand’s famous shirts.
Lewis Warren from the Avon Valley School, Oscar Farmer from Harris Church of England Academy and James Loraine from Bilton School went on to the pitch on Saturday ahead of England’s impressive Six Nations win over Ireland.
The boys proudly represented their schools as part of the CBRE All Schools programme, an England Rugby initiative to get more state secondary schools playing rugby.
They were wearing bespoke rugby shirts which was designed by pupils from their schools at a Canterbury Kit Design workshop last year.
The day began with a presentation of their new rugby shirts and the students were introduced to Bath Rugby player and CBRE All Schools ambassador Dave Attwood, who shared his experiences of playing for his country and what pulling on the England shirt means to him.
The boys then made their way outside to form a guard of honour from the Lion Gate to the Spirit of Rugby to welcome the England and Ireland teams.
They took centre stage to sing the national anthem with Official England Rugby anthem singer Laura Wright, and then headed to their seats to enjoy the match, which ended 21-10 to England.
Dave, who also designed his own rugby shirt at one of the Canterbury kit design workshops, said: “It was great to meet the students and to listen to them talking excitedly about their experiences of designing their own school’s rugby shirts and being here today at Twickenham.
“This is a fantastic initiative and I am proud to be an ambassador of a programme aimed at giving youngsters the chance to play rugby.”
Avon Valley PE Teacher Rob Dignum said: “The boys were wonderful ambassadors for the school and created a shirt we are proud of; students and staff alike are very excited about this joint sporting venture and we are grateful for this opportunity.”
Head teacher Alison Davies said: “Many of our students engage in extracurricular sport. As a school we are grateful to the RFU and Canterbury for this wonderful opportunity and we hope Lewis has an enjoyable day at Twickenham.”
100 schools in the programme were selected to attend the workshops, each designing a rugby shirt for their school team. Canterbury then produced their designs, with the final results being unveiled on the pitch in front of an 82,000 crowd. One pupil from each school was chosen to take part in the celebrations.
In April students and teachers from 12 schools across the country will take part in a pitch day at Twickenham as part of a celebration of schools within the CBRE All Schools programme.
The schools will take part in activities throughout the day, including a Touch Rugby tournament and tour of the stadium.
