Mark Viner's boots, hung on the dressing-room peg at Twickenham last month after Bradford Salem's EDF Energy Senior Vase final defeat to Northwich, have found a special resting place.
"They will be in the Museum of Rugby at HQ from next month," said the surprised but delighted 40-year-old forward at Salem's civic reception.
"It was a spur of the moment thing to hang them on the peg," admitted Viner, pictured extreme left above.
"I left a goodbye note in the boots thanking the Rugby Football Union for their time etc but didn't expect them to find their way into the museum. I thought someone might find them and bin them or put them in lost property. But things went a bit further than that didn't they?"
Viner added: "I have been lucky enough to play at first-team level all my competitive rugby life and it is not as if I am 30. I am 40, have had a good run and have finished on a high."
As for the civic reception, he said: "It is a great honour for the club. It rounds the whole thing off and helps the players to salve the defeat and appreciate the achievement of getting to Twickenham from a competition that had an entry of some 512 clubs."
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