Leamington fail to rise to the occasion

Leamington took on Old Coventrians in the last eight of the competition at the home of Leicester Tigers on Saturday.

The players had watched English champions Tigers run in six tries in a 44-19 Aviva Premiership victory over Newcastle Falcons before following in the first-team’s footsteps and running out on the Welford Road pitch.

Leamington lost 3-0 but Mortimer said the players and supporters had a great day out.

“It was a great day,” he said. “Unfortunately we didn’t qualify for the next stage but it was a fantastic experience for the players and their parents.

“It is something you don’t get to do very often and they all thought it was fantastic.”

The Leamington players also took part in a parade alongside the other quarter-finalists at half-time of Tigers’ game and had their photograph taken on the pitch.

Mortimer said: “They enjoyed getting onto the pitch at half-time and walking around in front of nearly 19,000 spectators.

“It is pretty special to walk out in front of that amount of people.”

The Prima Tiger Cup is supported by Loughborough-based Prima Solutions. It is now in its 17th season and is open to under-tens teams from across the country.