Arthur Williams who is in Year 6 at Hawkedale primary school, had the experience of a lifetime recently. He entered a Land Rover Defender competition back in February that was sent round by the premiership rugby clubs. They were looking for a ‘Defender of tomorrow’ amongst youngsters and the prize was to appear as a mascot at one of the Rugby World Cup games. The competition also ran in other countries.
Arthur had to produce a short video saying why he is a ‘Defender of tomorrow’. At the time, he was a cub at 1st Sunbury and had done various litter picks, including with his Nan around Sunbury. He decided to focus on that and the envi-ronment, and the family made the film down at London Irish at Hazelwood where Arthur plays for the U11s.
Having sent the entry in, the family forgot about it. But at the start of April an email arrived out of the blue saying he had been selected as one of 96 mascots for the 48 matches. Arthur was selected for quarter final 4, which turned out to be one of the best games of the whole tour-nament with the hosts France playing the eventual champions South Africa.
The other mascot was French and walked out onto the pitch with Antoine Dupont. Arthur got the fabulous Siya Kolisi who made a real effort to chat to him in the tunnel when Arthur wished him good luck. Arthur was a bit nervous, but Siya put him at ease, and he did a great job, even singing some of the South Africa national anthem, which is in four languages!
Wow. What an experience!