ABBEY RFC Under 12s star Henry Temple may have missed out on appearing at the Aviva Premiership Rugby Final at Twickenham, but he insists he experienced a memorable weekend at a festival organised by Wasps recently.

Temple and Abbey U12s had been hoping to head to Twickenham on May 27 to meet an England 2003 Rugby World Cup winner and join in a Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup Parade at half-time – but it wasn’t to be despite a strong performance at the rugby festival.

Temple and his team received the opportunity after taking part in the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup – a nationwide series for U11 and U12 teams – on Sunday at King Henry VIII School in Coventry.

Abbey showed maturity beyond their years as they played with a combination of brave tackling, crisp passes and slick off-loads in a tournament organised by Wasps that saw more than 30 teams take part including Abbey U11s.

“It means so much just to be here at such a big tournament, we all love playing rugby together because we are all such good friends” said Temple – who attends Reading Blue Coat School.

“We have really enjoyed the day today and we love how team-orientated rugby is.

“Rugby is such a good team game and I like that you can be smashing people in the game and then be friends afterwards.”

Watching Wasps centre Nick De Luca praised the standard of rugby on display and the importance of junior rugby in the club’s future success.

He said: “It is a really amazing thing that these kids have the chance to play for the opportunity to attend the final in May.

“I love that this tournament brings together teams from all over the Midlands and beyond – there has been a real buzz about the place today and all the players have been full of enthusiasm.

“I have seen some great rugby with lots of teams being really physical and loving that side of the game as well as being willing to offload which is great to see – the skill level has been really high.”

Land Rover is a proud supporter of grassroots rugby and has been a partner of the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup for nearly a decade. Land Rover’s ‘We Deal In Real’ campaign continues to champion grassroots rugby through Premiership Rugby and the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup. @LandRoverRugby #WeDealInReal.