MATT HAMPSON FOUNDATION

FOUNDATION Matt Hampson

Update from one of the club’s official charities...

STANDING STRONG

Foundation beneficiary Henry has a complete spinal cord injury and, as a result, has developed a severe postural scoliosis, which means he struggles to sit upright and maintain a symmetrical position.

Here he is working in standing in the Get Busy Living centre gym to stretch the right side of his body and activate muscles on the left side to improve his ability to maintain a good posture.

Looking pretty straight here - amazing work Henry!

HAMBO’S AUCTION AND RAFFLE

The Foundation’s Six Nations auction and raffle ended this week having raised a fantastic amount of muchneeded funding for the charity.

It has been one of our most successful fundraisers to date and will make a huge difference to the number of beneficiaries we’ll be able to support in 2021 after being closed for a good proportion of the past year.

Prizes and lots included a one-off painting of Mike Tindall’s 'Greatest of All Time Six Nations' team created by sports artist Ben Mosley and tickets to the Festival of Sport with Tigers legends Will Greenwood and Austin Healey. Thanks to everyone that supported us!

FLOOR: EVERSCAPE THIRA

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

The expanded knockout stages of both the Heineken Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup are critical, with clubs having no margin for error in their quest for glory. These two April rounds will also go a long way towards defining the list of 15 nominees for EPCR European Player of the Year, which will be announced after the quarterfinal matches. Sam Simmonds won the Anthony Foley Memorial Trophy last season as Europe’s standout player. The Exeter Chiefs star dotted down for his eighth try of the campaign in the thrilling final victory over Racing 92 to seal the prestigious accolade and he was in no mood to let up on that form when he got 2020/21 off to a flying start with a try against Glasgow in Round 1 at Sandy Park. More than 20,000 votes were cast last season through HeinekenChampionsCup.com and the opinions of the fans will again be canvassed this time, combined with the expertise of a prominent panel of pundits working on the tournaments who will deliberate until the conclusion of Finals Weekend to determine the winner. The 15 nominated stars of the global game will then be trimmed down to just five candidates after the semi-finals, at the start of May.

EPCR European Player of the Year Past Winners

1995-2010 Ronan O’Gara 2011 Sean O’Brien 2012 Rob Kearney 2013 Jonny Wilkinson 2014 Steffon Armitage 2015 Nick Abendanon 2016 Maro Itoje 2017 Owen Farrell 2018 Leone Nakarawa 2019 Alex Goode 2020 Sam Simmonds