Young rugby players were treated to a day with the sports stars recently when they spent the day with a professional squad.

Pupils from Thetford Grammar School visited the Leicester Tigers as the team prepared for the Guinness Premiership clash with London rivals the Harlequins club.

On arriving at the Welford Road ground, the team spent the morning being put through their paces by Tigers’ coach Matt Williams.

Later on, the youngsters were given a tour of the club’s training facilities including the gym, ice bath, and injury rehabilitation centre. They were then treated to a visit to the Welford Road stadium itself where they spent time in the changing rooms before going into the trophy room which houses the international caps of former players, a host of Guinness Premiership trophies, as well as the club’s collection of European Cups.

The boys then visited the ‘Tiger Bar’ to meet a selection of first team players for a question and answer session, collected their free T-shirts and a yearbook and watched a match. There was one more surprise when at half time the boys took to the pitch for a lap of honour and a team photo with the mascot and another player.