The festival, one of the first in England, was held at Northampton Casuals RFC, and is part of the EDF Energy National Schools Rugby Programme. 24 teams took part, many of which have received equipment and coaching from Northampton Saints as part of the programme which happens both at the schools involved and at Franklin's Gardens.

Every child that took part will receive a certificate signed by Steve Thompson. More importantly everyone got their hands on the EDF Energy Cup itself!

The officiating at today's tournament involved some of the RFU Young Leaders who received training at Franklin's Gardens in February as part of the Northampton School Sports Partnership. Young people from the 'Coaching for Life' project run by the Saints in conjunction with Connexions also helped community officer Ross Stewart with the tournament's organisation.

Every GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP club is involved in the programme, together with Exeter Chiefs and the Cornish Pirates from National League 1. Primary schools up and down the country are receiving coaching, particularly those in which rugby has never been played before.

"It was fantastic to see everybody having fun," said Saints' head of community Sian Haynes. "After all that's what rugby's all about. We've always had strong links with local schools and the EDF Energy programme is helping us take that to another level.

"To have not just schools here but also RFU Young Leaders and members of the 'Coaching for Life' project shows the diversity and strength of what the community department does here at Franklin's Gardens.

"And it will be great to see a little Reihana and a little Cohen running out at Twickenham this season!"

Bernie also made an appearance.

Today's EDF Energy tournament comes in the same week that the Premier Rugby Community Report was launched by the Minister for Sport, the Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP. Last season the Premiership clubs visited nearly 2,000 schools to run over 7,000 programmes, totalling some 100,000 man-hours of work.

For the second year running, Business in the Community has awarded Premier Rugby its %Club standard, acknowledging the Premiership clubs' substantial community investment.

Mark McCafferty, chief executive of Premier Rugby, said: "This report highlights our growing expertise and continued commitment. Our goal has always been for clubs to be at the centre of their community and we are now a partner of choice for many private and public sector organisations, dealing with health, fitness and social exclusion issues. We're keen to expand our work in these areas and to continue to make a difference."