Grand Slam winners to meet Prince of Wales

7:07pm Saturday 17th May 2008

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THE entire Wales Grand Slam winning team and their back-up staff have been invited to a royal reception where the Prince of Wales will personally congratulate them.

They have all been asked to Clarence House in London on Thursday May 29 for a lunchtime meeting with the Prince.

He is expected to congratulate them on their Grand Slam success and wish them well on their summer tour of South Africa where they will play a two-Test series against the Springboks for the Prince William Cup.

Injured players not included in the summer tour will be invited to the reception along with the squad selected to go to South Africa.

They will be joined at Clarence House by the chairman of the WRU, David Pickering, president Dennis Gethin and group chief executive Roger Lewis.

The Prince of Wales will follow in the footsteps of his son, Prince William, the Vice Royal Patron of the WRU, who congratulated the team at the Millennium Stadium as he handed captain Ryan Jones the trophy on the pitch.

The royal link will continue in South Africa because the teams will be competing for the Prince William Cup which was unveiled last year.

Wales will be attempting to win back the trophy which was won by the Springboks last November at the Millennium Stadium.

Pickering said: "The invitation to meet the Prince of Wales is a great honour for the squad after their achievements in the 2008 RBS Six Nations tournament.

"The Welsh supporters have already been fantastic and this is yet more evidence of how we all value their hard work and success."

* All tickets for Wales' star-studded free Grand Slam celebration on Bank Holiday Monday May 26 have been snapped up within the first 10 minutes of being made available to the public at the Millennium Stadium yesterday.

Fans started queuing outside the stadium from 7am to claim their allocation. In addition, the tickets provided to each of the Union's 241-member clubs have also already been taken by rugby fans.

Rugby clubs throughout Wales received their free tickets yesterday and, although demand for access to see Stereophonics, Feeder, Rhydian, Heather Small and other stars serenade Warren Gatland's Grand Slam heroes, was always expected to outstrip supply, organisers have been impressed with the success of the initiative.