Red Roses royalty Amber Reed watched on proudly as hundreds of young girls enjoyed a once in a lifetime experience on the hallowed Twickenham Stadium turf.

Bristol-born Reed, 32, spent the day as a fan, cheering on 30 schools and 400 young girls at the RFU’s under-12s Love Rugby Showcase Festival.

A home World Cup next year promises to push the women’s rugby to record interest levels, but Reed insists it’s just as important to see a thriving grassroots game. 

“The growth of the game is phenomenal and the professional game needs that platform,” said Reed, who has won 67 caps for England.

“Women’s rugby is growing in participation levels and at international level at such a rate, more and more people are coming to watch, the crowds are bigger and to create that passion and atmosphere you need to be playing in big stadiums to allow everyone to come and watch.

“I think the highlight for me was the France game here with 60,000 people in the crowd.

“Seeing people lining our walk to the ground was pretty emotional. We don’t want that to be a one off, we want that to be the norm.

“So for us, it’s about putting the best brand of rugby we can onto the pitch to inspire young girls to come and watch and continue to play, because they are the future generation of the red roses.”

The schools selected to take part in the event on Continental Tyres Schools Cup finals day were invited due to the development of their girls' rugby offering and display of the RFU’s Core Rugby Values.

Starting at Richmond RFC, the teams participated in contact and non-contact rugby fixtures, concluding with 400 girls running at the home of rugby.

Many of the girls playing were new to the sport and Reed was struggling to think of a better way to ignite a passion for rugby.

“They’ll remember this for a long time,” she said. “They’re making sure they get a few photos to make a few parents very jealous.

“My rugby journey started at school when a teacher gave some of the girls an opportunity to play at break time and lunch time and that’s how I ended up in the pathway.

“The girls playing today are younger than the age I was when I started playing rugby, so for them to have the opportunity is incredible.

“To see the smiles on their faces is special. This is the first time at Twickenham for some of them and I told them it doesn’t happen very often.”

The Continental Tyres Schools Cup is an important part of the age-grade rugby landscape in England, with schools’ rugby often where players fall in love with the game for the first time. For more information visit the Continental Tyres Schools Cup section of the England Rugby Website