A WORLD Cup winner stepped off the subs bench to become star guest at a dinner - replacing a former England rugby team mate stranded abroad by the volcanic ash cloud.

Matt Dawson, part of the triumphant 2003 national side, was due to be main speaker at High Wycombe Rugby Club’s annual dinner on Friday evening but was stuck in South Africa.

But club members were not let down when Bucks resident Will Greenwood was presented as his replacement.

The event was being held at The Royal Grammar School, Amersham Road, High Wycombe where Mr Dawson was a pupil.

Bill Page, president of High Wycombe Rugby Club said: “He let us know on Thursday afternoon he couldn’t make it so I secured Will Greenwood- his fellow World Cup winner.

“He gave an extremely good, high quality speech and it was a very successful evening.”

Mr Greenwood now works for Sky Sports and The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Page added: “The Wycombe dinner has got quite a reputation, we’ve had many star speakers in recent years. Last year was probably the biggest icon of the lot - Martin Johnson.

“The year before that was Lawrence Dallaglio and we’ve had Austin Healy and Jason Leonard.”

He said it was probably the most unusual reason a speaker had given for not being able to attend.

“It was actually made worse by the fact that the chairman Ross Mackerron and vice chairman Kelvin Hardy were also caught overseas - in Portugal and the Channel Islands,” he said.

All commercial flights to and from and the UK have been grounded due to fears surrounding the ash cloud.

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