Rugby dreams don't come much bigger than this. Charlie Orpin, who plays for Sevenoaks Rugby Under 10s, led New Zealand Captain Richie McCaw onto the pitch as Land Rover's official mascot at the Rugby World Cup 2015 Semi-Final at Twickenham on Saturday 24 October.
The momentous day for Charlie, proudly wearing his Sevenoaks Rugby socks, was also special because of the profile of the match and the players involved. Richie McCaw is arguably the greatest rugby player and greatest captain of all time, and Charlie was alongside him leading one of the greatest teams of all time onto the pitch for a vital knockout match they went on to win to secure a place in the Final. The fixture was at the home of rugby, Twickenham; it will be another generation before the Tournament returns to these shores.
To see Charlie doing an assured and calm job on rugby's world stage was both the cherry and the icing on the cake in a great weekend for Sevenoaks Rugby. Here's Charlie in his own words on the whole experience:
"Being a mascot in the Rugby World Cup Semi-Final was very exciting. Before the game we had to do a rehearsal to practice walking onto the pitch. We then went into the hospitality where I was interviewed by Claire Balding. I then met Will Greenwood and Lewis Moody. At 3:30pm I was taken to the tunnel; it was very noisy and loud. Richie McCaw asked for my hand and I said good luck and we walked out onto the pitch. It was very exciting."
Good lad, Charlie!
