TWO students from Trinity High School fought off stiff competition to represent their school at a rugby festival in Paris.

James Timney and Alex Cogswell were among pupils from schools in France, Scotland, Wales and Ireland who spent a week in Paris teaching underprivileged children how to play the sport.

The festival, part of a project called Parlez-vous Rugby?, was launched in October last year by the British Council and the French ministry of education, to demonstrate that rugby is a game for both boys and girls of all ages and abilities.

Linda Russell, Trinity High School deputy headteacher, said: "This was a big thing for us, it's very prestigious.

"Both the boys worked really hard to get selected and we're very proud of them.

"They were delighted, they're both rugby players so were thrilled to bits to be in France during the World Cup."

As well as teaching youngsters how to play rugby James and Alex worked on projects such as designing a rugby strip and producing a bilingual rugby DVD.

They also helped plan the festival and developed their leadership and language skills.

Mrs Russell added: "They are both clever boys and quite good at French so I think they knew enough of the language to get by."