THE home of rugby welcomed students from a Portland school.

Pupils from the Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy (IPACA) were invited for a day to remember at Twickenham.

Just 12 schools from around the country were invited to the event which was celebrating the schools’ involvement in the CBRE All Schools programme.

The programme gives young people at secondary school the opportunity to have fun, build lasting relationships and gain invaluable skills through playing rugby.

The school was invited by Canterbury, the official kit supplier to England Rugby to take part in a day of activities including a touch rugby tournament on the pitch which is home to the England Rugby team and recently saw them lift the Six Nations trophy.

Pupils got the chance to enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of the famous stadium before following in the footsteps of some of the world’s greatest rugby players and taking to the pitch.

They took to the turf wearing rugby shirts designed themselves at Canterbury kit design workshops.

The workshops are also part of the programme set up by the RFU to encourage more state secondary schools to play rugby union.

A special venue and a special day was also joined by special guests.

Women’s rugby world cup star Maggie Alphonsi was joined by England Women’s Rugby players Lotte Clapp, Lydia Thompson and Lauren Cattell who attended the day and shared their experiences with the students.

The players then took to the sidelines to cheer the teams on throughout the tournament.

Following the competition an awards presentation took place for the students before a BBQ was enjoyed by all the guests.

Chris Stephenson, CEO of Canterbury, said: “The Pitch Day was a fantastic celebration of the All Schools programme which Canterbury is proud to support. It was a great experience for the schools to spend the day Twickenham, and not only get to play on the same pitch as many iconic rugby legends, but playing wearing shirts that they have designed themselves.”

CBRE All Schools has already introduced rugby to 400 state secondary schools and the aim is to extend this to 750 by 2019.

The scheme aims to create a positive legacy for one million children over ten years with 130,000 pupils experiencing rugby through the programme during the last school year alone.