Having missed this in the coronavirus lockdown they decided to put their energy to good use on behalf of the RFU Injured Players Foundation, the charity which supports all players seriously injured training or playing in England.

Over the course of a July week, 21 Society members and 16 members of their families registered their self propelled distances for whichever they chose from walking, running, cycling, swimming ergo or on an indoor fitness machine.

 Their target distance of 2,265km was overtaken as they clocked up a total of 2,548km and featured in an interview on BBC Berkshire. They overtook their target of £500 with a recently fundraising total of £1,127.

• They completed 263.02 hours of exercise this week
• Burnt 85,988 calories or 359,775 kilojoules
• Generated 28,892,055 watts of power

“We know charities like the IPF are struggling for funds because of Covd-19 and wanted to do something to help seriously injured rugby players who still need our support," said referee Adam Dent.

"At the same time the challenge helped us get match fit. It was great to get so much support and it really spurred us on and we hope everyone continues to help the IPF in this difficult time.”

Another timely donation also arrived for the IPF from the now defunct London RFU. It was formed in 1910 when the metropolitan counties came together to raise fifteens to play incoming touring sides and an annual fixture against Paris on the weekend of the England-France match in the Five Nations. In the mid-eighties, it was subsumed by the London & SE Division.

After the demise of the Divisions the reasons for maintaining a London RFU gradually disappeared and last year the AGM decided to disband and to donate its final cash assets to the Injured Players Foundation. Having allowed a period to cover potential outstanding creditors, a cheque for £2,370.14 has been received by the Foundation.

Visit their fundraising page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Berkshire-RefSoc