Francis Baron, the Rugby Football Union chief executive, will be joining the Sweet Chariot Tour when the Rugby World Cup trophy visits Lincolnshire on Thursday March 4.

He will join the trophy, which is on a four month long tour of the country which will include 290 events in 86 days, at Sleaford and then accompany the gold cup into Lincoln Prison, for a reception with the RAF's Red Arrows display team at RAF Scampton and then on to Lincoln RFC.

Mr Baron will also fly from Scampton to Lincoln on the helicopter that will be transporting the trophy on its three-day visit to Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire. The trophy will visit Derbyshire on March 5 and Nottinghamshire on March 6.

During his visit Mr Baron will hand over a plaque to the sister of Neil Higgins, a prop forward from Lincoln Prison's rugby team, who died in a road traffic accident last month.

The trophy will be handed over to Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire by Yorkshire on the Humber Bridge at 6.45 am on March 4. The trophy will be received by Martyn Thomas, the NL&D representative on the RFU Council.

It will then embark on an extensive tour of the Three Counties which will include a youth rugby festival at Skegness RFC, a visit to the Lincolnshire Ambulance Service training headquarters near Lincoln and the Red Arrows reception. Both the Ambulance Service and Red Arrows events are closed to the general public.

Egg, the world's largest pure online bank, is working with the Rugby Football Union in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire & Derbyshire to bring the Webb Ellis Cup, the Rugby World Cup trophy, to the region.

To help transport the gold cup around the largest of the RFU's constituent bodies a helicopter has been hired and this is being sponsored by Egg. As part of Egg's Developing Local Talent Fund the bank has already been working within the community to encourage the adoption of rugby in local schools, this is being further enhanced by this sponsorship. This particular leg of the tour will be known as the NLD RFU Sweet Chariot Tour Powered by Egg.

James Bell, Egg's Head of Community Relations, said: "As part of its Developing Local talent community initiative, Egg recently launched a partnership with the RFU and Derby RFC aimed at encouraging the development of skills and the adoption of rugby in more local schools."

"We are delighted to be able to support the NL&D RFU Sweet Chariot Tour Powered by Egg which will be taking the Webb Ellis Cup around the region."

"We hope this will further inspire more people to take up and support the game through playing, coaching and refereeing."

NL&D are offering places on the helicopter to two members of each of the clubs that will be visited during the tour and some lucky Egg employees will also be given the opportunity of taking a flight. Each club has been asked to organise a fund-raising raffle or auction to determine the lucky winners.

The helicopter, which is based at Sheffield Airport, has been generously provided by Alpha Helicopters.

The Webb Ellis Cup will be delivered to Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire & Derbyshire by officials of the Yorkshire RFU on the Humber Bridge at 6.45am on Thursday March 4 and it will then be escorted by Humberside Police to Barton-on-Humber where it will be collected and flown by the Egg helicopter to the rest of the NLD region.

The full itinerary for the NLD leg of the Sweet Chariot Tour powered by Egg is:

Itinerary:

March 4:
6.45am, handover on Humber Bridge,
7.15 Scunthorpe RFC,
9.05 Grimsby RFC,
10.22 Market Rasen RFC,
11.32 Skegness RFC,
1.05pm Deeoings RFC,
2.45 Sleaford RFC,
2.55 Lincolnshire Ambulance Training Centre,
3.45 HMP Lincoln,
4.55 RAF Scampton,
6.05 Lincoln RFC,
8.05 Volunteer reception at Lawns Hotel, Lincoln

March 5:

7.21 am Glossop RFC,
8.55 QEGS Ashbourne,
9.35 Bakewell RFC,
10.40 Matlock RFC,
12.25pm Chesterfield RFC,
1.55 Ilkeston RFC,
3.15 Amber Valley,
4.11 Melbourne RFC,
5.05 Egg HQ,
6.05 Derby RFC,
8.15 Volunteer Reception Derby University.

March 6:

7.15am Worksop College,
8.25 Ollerton RFC,
9.35 Mansfield RFC,
11.15 Paviors RFC,
12.45pm West Bridgford RFC,
1.35 Nottingham Council House,
4.01 Nottingham RFC,
5.12 Bingham RFC,
6.05 Newark,
8.35 Volunteer reception at Nottingham University.

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