PUPILS at two Swindon schools have designed their own rugby strip after taking part in a workshop with leading sportswear brand, Canterbury.

Pupils from Commonweal School and Nova Hreod Academy took part in the workshop to design their own school kit, which will now be manufactured and donated to the schools by the company, which dresses the New Zealand All Blacks.

The workshop took place on October 21 at Wheatley RFC in Oxford, and formed part of the All Schools programme which was launched in 2012 by the Rugby Football Union in partnership with the Rugby Football Foundation.

During the workshop pupils learned about the history, heritage, values and importance of the rugby shirt.

And one of Canterbury’s designers talked pupils through the process of designing a shirt, as well as the key elements to consider when creating their own design.

Commonweal and Nova Hreod are among 100 new schools to join the scheme, which now has 300 schools on board.

Canterbury CEO, Chris Stephenson, said: “We’re passionate about working together with the RFU on the All Schools project and are looking forward to supporting these new schools by providing kit and the unique opportunity to design their own team shirt. It’s been fantastic to see the impact rugby has had on the students taking part over the last two years and encouraging that the schools are building such strong club links.”

All Schools is a programme to help more state secondary school children play rugby and to encourage new players to join local clubs.