The trophy was flown into the islands on Tuesday, April 6, from Hampshire by Lieutenant Commander Mark Davies and Lieutenant Dave Turner for a lunch at the Pomme D’or Hotel and a visit to Jersey RFC before heading on to Guernsey.

Leicester forwards Kay and West, and BBC commentator Ian Robertson, then joined the celebrations at a sponsors reception at the Governor’s Residence and a fund-raising dinner at Old Government House.

The next day saw a youth sevens tournament staged at the Guernsey Stadium before the return trip to Burnaby Road, Portsmouth, for the Royal Navy’s 41-20 win against Hampshire and the handover of the trophy to Dorset and Wiltshire.

Earlier in the week, the mainland tour of Hampshire started on Sunday, April 4, with a mini-rugby tournament at Gosport and Fareham RFC where 400 children and their parents had their pictures taken with the trophy.

At Portsmouth RFC another 800 had their pictures taken while Hampshire junior finals and minis and women’s games took place, before the tour linked up with the exhibition unit at Petersfield for another 800 pictures, and then moved on to a Hampshire Schools dinner at Basingstoke RFC.

The following day saw the Webb Ellis Cup and exhibition unit set up in the centre of Basingstoke with support from staff from the county, referees, women’s rugby, local clubs and the Wooden Spoon Society.

Back at the Basingstoke club a community rugby event saw tag and other rugby-related games taking place with the trophy available for more pictures in the afternoon before the civic reception at the Great Hall in Winchester, which recognised volunteer contributions and where the guests included sponsors, disabled players and sports development workers.

“ Overall, we were able to bring to RWC to around 10,000 and promote our great game to all parts of the community,” said Hampshire tour organiser Dave Marsden.

“ We have made new friends, encouraged new people to join us and shown that we can put on great rugby events that are fun for all.

“ We have raised money for clubs, for youth development and for the Wooden Spoon Charity. I have hardly seen a face in four days that has not had a smile on it or a bad word to say about any of the events.”