A YOUNG scrum-half from Thorney Rugby Club will be showing off his skills in front of thousands at Twickenham at the end of the month.
Fourteen year-old Joshua Butler-Honeybun (above), who plays for the Thorney Under 14 team, has won through to the final of a national skills competition and will be battling it out with other regional winners during the half-time interval at the Guin
ness Premiership final on May 31. A crowd of 70,000 is expected for the game.
Joshua's route to Twickenham began last October when he attended a coaching course at Northampton Saints and was put into the O2 Kick, Pass, Run Challenge. He was adjudged winner of the 10-13 age group and last month Joshua was back at Franklins Gardens battling it out with the winners from other coaching courses held throughout the season at Saints.
And again his skills - kicking, passing, agility and speed - shone through as he emerged overall winner in his age group.
The winners from all the other top clubs in the country will now compete at Twickenham in the grand final hoping to be crowned winner of the Guinness 2008 O2 Kick, Pass, Run Challenge.
Joshua, who also plays for the Hunts and Peterborough Under 14 side and Cambridgeshire Under 14s, lives in Holbeach and attends The Gleed Boys School in Spalding.
His headteacher Mr Geoff Cowley has said that as a token of the school's pride and support for Joshua's achievement, they want to award him a pair of rugby boots of his choice for his big day at Twickenham.
The O2 KPRC is one of the country's biggest rugby skills competitions. The challenge involves a series of kicking, passing and running skill tests in three age groups - 9 years and younger, 10-13 years and 14-18 years.
The full article contains 313 words and appears in Peterborough ET newspaper.
