The Aviva Premiership Rugby Final may still be seven months away but youngsters from Heathfield & Waldron RFC are already counting down the days – thanks to their efforts and skill at last weekend’s Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup.

On Saturday, Heathfield & Waldron Under-11s took to the field for the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup event, hosted by Harlequins in the shadow of Twickenham.

Not only did they get to strut their stuff in front of onlooking Harlequins players Dave Ward and Kyle Sinckler, but the players also secured the opportunity to appear at next May’s Aviva Premiership Rugby Final at Twickenham, where they will take part in a special half-time parade.

More than 30 Under-11 and Under-12 teams took part in this weekend’s grassroots rugby festival – which is celebrating its tenth anniversary year and has seen more than 70,000 children take part to date – with Heathfield & Waldron loving every second, especially finding out they’d be going to the Aviva Premiership Rugby Final and also being treated to Harlequins’ breathless 41-35 win over Worcester Warriors.

“I feel amazed! I’m really excited to go to Twickenham next year and I hope Harlequins will be playing against Saracens – I hope it’s a draw and then a drop-goal in the last minute!” said Fergus Lamb, 11, a Maynards Green Community Primary School pupil.

“The day’s been awesome. On one hand it’s been tough because some of the other teams here were amazing and were so good at tackling I think!

“But on the other hand, we dominated in a few areas and everybody put their all in which is important.

“Rugby is the most important thing to me, sitting down watching TV’s not that much fun but running around and watching Quins play is awesome.

“We met Kyle [Sinckler] and Dave [Ward] too, that was good fun. Joe Marler comes to our club quite a lot but it was good to meet those two.”

As well as taking part in the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup Parade during next May’s final, Heathfield & Waldron can also look forward to meeting a Land Rover rugby ambassador at Twickenham and hearing which of them has won a club MVP award.

They got a taste of rubbing shoulders with rugby’s elite when they met Harlequins players Ward and Sinckler on Saturday, and the latter admitted he had been impressed with what he had seen, in particular stressing the importance of grassroots rugby.

“Me and Dave [Ward] have come down to have a look at the local talent and it’s been a great day out,” said the England, Harlequins and British & Irish Lions prop.

“The main thing is enjoying it and you can see the kids are happy and it’s all about the sportsmanship of the game and playing it in the right way. You can see them all doing three cheers for each other.

“It’s about coming out on a Saturday or Sunday and giving it your best, if you win you win, and if you lose so be it, if you gave it your all and had a good time – you’ve got to make memories with your friends.

“Without the grassroots rugby there’s no elite level – if you speak to any guy in any professional team they all started at grassroots level.”

Land Rover is celebrating its ‘Testimonial Season’; ten years of the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup. The national series of grassroots rugby festivals is testament to Land Rover’s continued support of grassroots rugby through its ‘We Deal In Real’ campaign. Follow @LandRoverRugby #WeDealInReal