WHEN Devon rugby star Brett Luxton walks out onto the pitch at Twickenham on Saturday for the county championship final against Yorkshire his old mates at Okehampton will be feeling proud as punch.

Brett, 23, began his rugby career in Okehampton and is believed to be the first player with town connections to ever appear at Twickenham.

A coachload of former players and members of Okehampton Rugby Club will travel to the match on Saturday to cheer on Devon who are hoping to have their first county championship triumph in 43 years.

The Okehampton club is justifiably proud, having also seen former club player Julian White picked to travel with the full England squad for the South African tour which starts next month.

Club secretary Ted Cann said: 'It is highly likely that Julian will get a full England cap in the next few weeks and this match on Saturday will be a showcase situation for Brett.

'He showed a great deal of talent at Okehampton and he is an extremely powerful lad. The county final will give him a chance to show what he's got to the people who may offer him professional contracts.'

Mr Cann, who will be in the crowd on Saturday, said he had enormous respect for the young player who was with Okehampton for four years and is still very friendly with the team members.

'As far as we are aware no player with Okehampton connections has gone as far as Twickenham — people can play all their lives and never get to play at Twickenham in the final of a major rugby competition.

'It is really something for a small club to have players reaching this sort of level.'

He said it was a great credit to Geoffrey Mills and Kenny Pollard who coached both Brett and Julian.

'These two lads played in the same team and their success is very encouraging to the young people of this town and the district,' he added. 'I sincerely hope the youth section of the club continues in this vein — we certainly have a very useful side at the moment and it is run very well.'

A former pupil of Okehampton College, Brett first started playing with Okehampton at the age of 17.

He said: 'I never really took it seriously before — rugby was just something I did.

'But the training at Okehampton was brilliant and it all just took off from there really.'

Brett, who is 6ft 5ins, plays at number 8. He lives at Ashwater, and now plays for Launceston Rugby Club, but still trains with his old team-mates. He said he was 'over the moon' to be playing in the county final at Twickenham.

'Nobody talks to me about anything else at the moment and I cannot help but get excited,' he said.

'We may be the underdogs but we are going up there to win and are really going to enjoy ourselves.'

The player said the great thing about Devon getting to the final was that it had given the county team a better image.

'People always think about Cornwall when it comes to South West rugby — Devon was always the side that took part but never qualified to go any further than group games.

'Maybe people will take a bit more interest now and we will hopefully get the level of support at Twickenham that Cornwall has had in the past.'

Devon beat Cheshire and Yorkshire defeated Cornwall to reach the final of the Tetley's Bitter County Championship.

Okehampton mayor Christine Marsh confessed she knew very little about rugby, but added: 'I don't know a lot about it but I can cheer with the best of them.

'I think it's great that Brett and the county side have got so far and wish them all the best for Saturday.'