EIGHT players from Basingstoke Rugby Football Club's Hampshire Cup-winning team were caught out when they fell into an April Fool's Day trap laid by their player-coach Ian Calder.

Ian asked his team to report on Easter Monday - April 1 - for a tour of the town in an open-topped bus to parade the cup they won at Havant the previous weekend.

Eight players duly turned up at their Down Grange base in their travelling kit - only to be met by their leader who was there to greet them in shorts and a T-shirt.

Suddenly realising the date, the red-faced eight cottoned on that there was to be no triumphal trophy parade.

Fly-half Ian said: "They were devastated that they had got sucked in."

The player-coach admits he will now be looking over his shoulder as he expects some sort of revenge trick to be played before the season is over.