The Webb Ellis Cup, the Rugby World Cup trophy today held by the All Blacks, was yesterday toured around colleges in Wairarapa to help encourage an increase in secondary school rugby registrations in the region.
Wairarapa tour spokesman Stacey Grant said the cup and its entourage started at Kuranui College in Greytown before travelling to Masterton and visiting Chanel, Makoura, Wairarapa and Rathkeale colleges.
Photographs were shot throughout the day of students flanking the cup on a specially made stand or hefting the almost five kilogram, gilded silver trophy in triumphant poses, all the while wearing gloves to preserve the shine on the cup.
There are two official Webb Ellis Cups, which are used. One is a 1906 trophy made in London, which was a Victorian design of a 1740 cup by Paul de Lamerie, while the other is a 1986 replica.
