THE fledgling Hampshire Special Needs rugby team will be the guards of honour at Twickenham tomorrow after being invited to welcome England and South Africa on to the pitch.

The county squad will be heading for rugby's headquarters to play an exhibition game as a curtain-raiser to the autumn international against their Gloucestershire counterparts before flanking the players as they run out.

It is another huge step for Matt Harvey and Rob Memory, under whose influence this programme has blossomed. Hampshire, the first county to undertake such a stand for special needs youngsters, will be in the spotlight in front of 75,000 people.

"This will be quite something for the lads,"said Harvey. "We were the first to set up the programme for special needs and it is really positive to have a team from Gloucestershire here today as our opponents."

HAMPSHIRE SQUAD: Yasmin Abram (Red Lodge), Nathan Atkins (Redwood Park), Lee Carter (Red Lodge), Brendan Carvel (Baycroft), Ian Cawley (Meadow), Tom Currie (Baycroft), Craig Drury (Redwood Park), Jason Jerrard (Baycroft - captain), Peter Kelly (Osbourne), Shaun Memory (Winchester), Aaron Morgan (Coxlease), Toby Reemes (Meadow), Sharmaine Whittingham (Red Lodge), Mitchell Whitwick (Glenwood).