Seaford had never seen anything like it.

The Sussex seaside town has returned four prime ministers to parliament, as well as educating actress Penelope Keith and Cambridge spy Guy Burgess.

But the town came to a standstill with the arrival of the Webb Ellis Cup as part of the RFU’s 250-venue tour of the country.

And even club president David Cleaton – the Welshman handed the bitter-sweet task of organising the Seaford visit – wasn’t going to stand in its way.

“We knew the cup was going from Eastbourne to Brighton and we were in the way – so we decided to see if it could stop off here,” said Cleaton.

“Graham Thompson from Sussex and Len Fisher the town clerk were the driving forces in working with us, so it was a case of good cooperation between the town, the club and the county. We had no idea how it would end up.”

It ended up with hundreds of people queueing behind the town hall and the SCT organisers processing a stream of rugby fans eager to have their picture taken with the cup at the rate of one every 10 seconds.

“It’s turned into a celebration for the whole town of Seaford. I have to say that because I’m Welsh I’ve had to live with all the jibes!

“But it’s been a great day and it’s encouraged people to get involved and to have contact with the club.

“Because we’re on the coast we have a 180 degree, rather than a 360 degree, catchment area. However, the interest in rugby is there and we’re packed for all our games.

“Our first team already do a lot to help other teams like our under-15s, but it’s now about recruiting new people, particularly volunteers, to help with the running of the club.”

Seaford was the penultimate stop on a journey that began at Holy Trinity School in Crawley before the Webb Ellis Cup moved under the awning of the bandstand at Queen's Square in Crawley.

Shoppers ground to a standstill on the coast at Eastbourne, where the public brought the central square of the Arndale Centre to a standstill, and then the tour went via Seaford to the Brighton club on the outskirts of the city, for an evening of youth, women's and veterans' games.

The cup moved to the Churchill Square shopping centre in Brighton for the morning of Saturday, April 3, before moving along the south coast to Montague Place in Worthing and then to Bognor, where Lewes beat the host club 22-7 to secure second place in the London South East Three league.

The Sussex leg of the tour ended at the Worthing club for a tag rugby tournament, band and buffet before the handover to Hampshire took place