England World Cup heroes Martin Johnson and Dorian West brought smiles to the faces of sick children when they paid a visit to the Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry today.
 
The Leicester Tigers pair popped into the children's ward at the city's hospital and they took with them the Webb Ellis Cup, the Rugby World Cup trophy, which they won in Sydney last November.
 
Patients and staff were only told of the visit an hour before the England pair arrived and their tour of the wards was much appreciated.
 
" It's great to bring a bit of enjoyment to people in hospital and to brighten their day with a visit like this," former England captain Johnson said.
 
" Hopefully we have given them something to smile and, by giving them an opportunity to hold the cup, it will be something special for them to remember."
 
Hooker West added: "We make hospital visits at Leicester but this is a little bit special, being able to take the World Cup around with us.
 
" It's a reward for the staff who work so hard to look after the children and also something for the children to remember.
 
" It's never nice seeing children who are ill and in hospital especially when you have children yourself, which both Martin and myself have. Hopefully we have done something a bit different from their normal routine today."
 
The visit to Walsgrave Hospital was part of the Warwickshire leg of the RFU's Sweet Chariot Tour of England.

The tour is in now in its fourth and final month and has taken in shopping centres, schools and rugby clubs in an attempt to maintain the high profile that rugby has enjoyed since Johnson lifted the trophy and to attract new participants.
 
The visit to the hospital was welcomed by Jacky White, the children's ward manager. She said: "We all followed the World Cup avidly and the children had flags of St George and badges.
 
" There was huge excitement when England won but we never imagined that we would have the trophy and two of the England players in the hospital.
 
" It's marvellous that the players should think about the children and to give up their time. It's just so nice to be included in the Sweet Chariot itinerary and this is a day that we will remember."
 
Johnson and West posed for photographs with patients including 15-weeks old Ethan Woodall who was pictured sitting in the famous gold trophy.

It is a photograph that Ethan's mother Eve will treasure particularly as her husband, Paul, is an Australian.
 
" That caused all sorts of problems during the World Cup, as you can imagine," she said. "My husband brought an Australian shirt for our other son, so I bought him and England shirt.
 
" He wore the Australian shirt for the first half of the World Cup final and then changed into the England one!
 
" I've now got a photograph of Ethan sitting in the World Cup alongside Martin and Dorian so that will make my husband really sick!"
 
Johnson and West also took time to talk to staff including support worker Paula-Louise West, who met her former teacher Charlie McGinty for the first time since she left school during the visit. McGinty is now Warwickshire's secretary and the organiser of that leg of the Sweet Chariot Tour.
 
" It's been a fantastic day," she said. "The World Cup visit has generated a lot of excitement, I've got the chance to meet Martin Johnson and I've also bumped into my old teacher again."
 
Apart from the visit to Walsgrave Hospital the Webb Ellis Cup was displayed at Riversley Park in Nuneaton after a breakfast reception with the local mayor and then taken to Woodlands School in Coventry, the former school of two more England World Cup heroes, Neil Back and Danny Grewcock.
 
All 1,200 boys at the school were photographed with the trophy including the squad of rugby players who will go on the school's tour of New Zealand next year.