BRIDGNORTH will honour the memory of their most famous player when they face Maidstone in the RFU Intermediate Cup final at Twickenham on Sunday May 3.
Back row forward Mark Keyworth began his career with Bridgnorth before he moved on to Swansea and won four England caps in 1976.
Keyworth died last November but retained close links with Bridgnorth until his death and gave the players a motivational speech before last season’s North Midlands Shield final.
Bridgnorth had promised that if they ever reached a Twickenham final that Keyworth would be invited to present the shirts to the players. That honour will now go to Bob Turner, who helped to found the Shropshire club in 1976, but Keyworth’s England shirt and photograph will be in the Bridgnorth changing room at Twickenham.
“Mark Keyworth’s England shirt will be with us in the changing room, we are taking it with us,” said Bridgnorth director of rugby Dale Smallman.
“It was 1976 that he played for England at Twickenham and in the same season as his passing it is just fantastic that a few more Bridgnorth lads will be running out there.
“We always said that if we ever got to Twickenham that Mark would hand the shirts out. We have got his shirt and his picture and it will be in the changing room.
“Bob Turner who set the club up in 1962 with his mates will present the shirts. If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have a club.
“But Mark Keyworth is a real motivation. We will seek every advantage we can get. He did that pre match talk before last year’s North Midlands Shield final and it was great.
“He really enjoyed that day with the lads. There is a bit of sadness there but it’s just nice to be able to able to celebrate him as well.”
Bridgnorth will have an England international of a more recent vintage in their coaching team with Shaun Perry, who won 14 caps at scrum-half between 2006 and 2007, travelling with the squad in his role as skills and development coach.
“We want to use someone with that experience of playing at Twickenham but, more importantly, Shaun wants to be there with the lads so that when he talks to them he is part of the group. As an off shoot of that he will tell them about his experiences,” Smallman said.
“He wants to be part of the group because he enjoys it and as being part of the group he will tell us about his experiences.”
Perry’s Twickenham experiences include playing for Dudley Kingswinford in the 1999 Intermediate Cup final when they were beaten by Old Aldwinians.
Smallman was part of DK’s coaching team that day but hopes for better fortune in his second Twickenham final.
“The starter for 10 is that we must, as a club, go and embrace the day and enjoy the experience. It’s not pressure it’s a privilege to be represented at Twickenham,” he said.
“We are talking to the lads about that. We take on the responsibility and the challenges and you must enjoy it.
“From there my message is quite clear: you go to Twickenham to win. You must seize the opportunity there. It’s the cherry on the icing on the cake.
“You have got to go there with that sort of mentality. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. We will go with that mindset of enjoying it. We will perform better if we enjoy it.”
Bridgnorth have already won the Midlands Two West (North) league title and Midlands Intermediate Cup and have reached the North Midlands Shield final for a third successive season but it is there success in reaching Twickenham that has captured the imagination of the Shropshire market town.
“I was fortunate enough last week to go round about eight schools and did the assemblies with the Midlands Intermediate Cup. We called it taking the cup to the town,” Smallman said.
“I also went to 20 to 30 businesses that have helped us, even in a small way, throughout the season and I had a photo taken with them and the cup outside their premises.
“It was a really great day and to see the excitement in the town growing. Everywhere I went people said: we are going.
“I think the club have sold out ten buses but there are a lot of people making their own way there. There was an old lady that I bumped into in the high street and she said: I’m coming, me and 50 of my friends have booked our own bus.
“Bridgnorth is 12,000 people, Maidstone has a population of 140,000. Our aim as a town is to get more people at Twickenham than them.
“The council have put a banner across the town hall saying: Good Luck to Bridgnorth Rugby Club at Twickenham.
“The whole town has got behind it. In going round these schools you have a straw poll and ask who is coming to Twickenham and all their hands go up and you think: how are they going to get down there?”