A RUGBY legend graced the town today along side the sport's most coveted trophy, the Webb Ellis cup.

Jonah Lomu visited Green Park in Reading, posing for pictures with fans and signing autographs.

The trophy was on display at Reading Station early in the morning, before making its way over to the business park.

Rugby enthusiast Martin Walsh, who took his wife and sons to see the trophy, said Jonah was shorter than he expected - but he still wouldn't fancy facing him in a 50-50 challenge.

"It's great to see someone who has such a pedigree in the game come to the town," Mr Walsh said.

"It was really nice to see what good shape he is in after all his problems with injuries.

The trip topped off a rugby based week for the Walsh family, who recently toured England's Twickenham Stadium.

New Zealand born Jason Collie, who also went along to meet Jonah with his two sons, Dylan, 11 and Alex, 8, and said the rugby superstar was as humble as he had always imagined him to be.

Mr Collie, of Caversham, said: "It was great to see how humble this global superstar is.

"He is a true Kiwi legend, it's a small country, there are few of us that the entire world knows.

"It says a lot that he can walk into Reading and there's queues of 50 or 60 people to go and see him."

Mr Collie added that he hopes the event will encourage residents to get more excited about the Rugby World Cup, which kicks off in less than a month's time.

He wasn't so optimistic about England's chances of winning this year's competition however, adding the real test will be getting out of the group stage.