World record

Louis Dunderdale, of Shefford played for a staggering 25 hours in the fundraising game held in aid of military charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers.

The 18-year-old joined 43 other men for the rugby marathon at Aviva Premiership side Leicester Tigers’ Welford Road Stadium on Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1.

Louis – who is studying PE, theatre studies and art at Denstone College in Staffordshire – and the other 43 formed the squads for two teams who proceeded to play the equivalent of 19 back-to-back games.

A Premiership rugby side would normally play 22 games over an entire season.

They managed to raise more than £60,000 for the charity, which supports the children of servicemen and women who are killed while serving their country.

Under Guinness World Record rules players were only allowed 20 minutes of rest for every four hours played – and were not permitted to go beyond the side of the pitch at any time.

Playing from 11am on the Friday and throughout the day and night until noon on Sunday the teams beat the previous record, which stood at 24 hours, 30 minutes and six seconds.

Three teams of three match officials worked one a one-hour on, two-hours-off rota during the session.

Louis said: “There was a Scotty’s Little Soldiers team which consisted of ex-service personnel and people who have brothers and fathers serving in the armed forces.

“They were up against an HM Armed Forces team which was made up of servicemen.”

The game finished HM Armed Forces 1742, Scotty’s Little Soldiers 828 – meaning that the sides also broke the world record for the most points scored in a game.

Louis, who hopes to join the RAF added: “Throughout the game there were numerous hard hits and some fabulous tries, while a group of witnesses kept track of the paperwork and everything that was going on.

“After the game both teams were presented with trophies and HM Armed Forces won, but both sides agreed that it wasn’t about who won,it was about raising money for a great cause and giving affected children another event that they could enjoy and remember.”

Louis enjoyed taking up the challenge and seeing the pleasure the watching children took from the game.

He said: “It was fantastic seeing the children run onto the pitch with water bottles and give us jellied sweets to keep our energy levels up.

“You could see from their beaming smiles that they were happy to be taking part.”

For more information about the charity see www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk