THE Webb Ellis Cup, the Rugby World Cup trophy, will be on display around Devon from April 14 to April 16 as part of the nationwide Sweet Chariot Tour which includes hundreds of events across the county.

The Rugby Football Union hopes that the Sweet Chariot Tour will help raise the profile of the sport both in traditional rugby-playing areas and in regions currently under-represented in the sport.

The euphoria that followed events in Sydney has been underpinned at grassroots level by the RFU’s Rugby Making An Impact Strategy aimed at increasing participation and retention in playing, coaching, officiating and administration.

IMPACT, which stands for Inclusion, Modernisation, Partnership, Appropriate facilities, Club/school links and Training and coaching, is a three-stage blueprint for community rugby in England.

The Devon RFU, alongside the RFU, have identified three major events where the cup will be on display together with an exhibition unit – Plymouth Albion’s Brickfields’, Barnstaple (Castle Fields) and Exeter County Ground.

The Sweet Chariot Tour exhibition unit will give the public the opportunity to have their photograph taken alongside the Webb Ellis Cup while there will also be several rugby displays and competitions to participate in.

The Sweet Chariot Tour kicks-off on Wednesday at the home of National Division One side Plymouth Albion from 10am-4pm. The Plymouth Albion playing squad will be holding demonstration sessions throughout the day and there will also be a schools’ seven-aside tournament and an adventure course run by the Devon & Dorset regiment.

However, to give more people the chance to see one of the sporting world’s most prestigious trophies the Webb Ellis Cup will be whisked away in style be a Royal Air Force helicopter to visit Torquay Rugby Club where a Devon under 13s regional festival will be taking place.

On day two the Webb Ellis Cup and exhibition unit will travel to Castle Fields in Barnstaple from 10am-5pm where a under 10s tournament will take place before the world cup makes a whistle-stop tour to Atlantic Village in Bideford and Tiverton RFC in the evening.

On the final day of the Sweet Chariot Tour, there will be a special Wooden Spoon Breakfast at the Royal Clarence Hotel, before the Webb Ellis Cup is walked to the Exeter Guildhall where it will be received by the Mayor of Exeter and councillors.

The world cup will then leave Exeter via a police escort to travel to Exeter County Ground, the home of the Exeter Chiefs, to join the Sweet Chariot Tour exhibition unit. Events at the County Ground start at 10am where there will be a tag rugby taster session in the morning sponsored by Sport England and Exeter City Council followed by a Devon versus Bristol U15s development match.

Exmouth RFC will host the penultimate event on the Devon Sweet Chariot Tour with an under 14s tournament and a reception for the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Town Clerk, together with the East Devon District Council and other invited guests before the tour comes to an end at Crediton RFC for a volunteers’ reception.

The Sweet Chariot Tour is entirely free to the public. However, there will be collection buckets for voluntary donations for the tour’s charity, the 'Wooden Spoon’.

The tour takes place in association with sponsors EA SPORTS, Ford, Holiday Inn, Land Rover and Lucozade Sport.

Devon Sweet Chariot Tour Itinerary

Wednesday April 14

9am - 6pm Brickfields, Plymouth (Sweet Chariot Tour exhibition unit. The cup will be on display from 9am-4pm)

5pm - 9pm Torquay Rugby Club

Thursday April 15

10am - 5pm Barnstaple - Castle Fields (Sweet Chariot Tour exhibition unit. The cup will be on display from 10am-1pm)

1.30pm-4pm Atlantic Village Shop Centre, Bideford

5.15pm - 8.30pm Tiverton Rugby Club

Friday April 16

10am - 5pm County Ground, Exeter (Sweet Chariot Tour exhibition unit. The cup will be on display from 1pm-4pm)

7.30 - 9.30am Royal Clarence Hotel, Exeter (Invite only)

10am - 12.30pm Guildhall, Exeter,

515pm - 6.45pm Exmouth Rugby Club

8.15pm Crediton RFC