A TEAM of rugby players took a night off from training this week to give blood.

Drifters Rugby Football Club based in Farnham Common visited Britwell Health Centre on Tuesday evening to join a national campaign to recruit more blood donors.

Alex Coombes, club captain, said: "We've lost enough blood on the pitch ourselves.

"There's been a national drive from the RFU and it's a way to give back to the people who have helped us."

The team's blood donation was inspired by the national Bleed for England campaign, encouraging England's Rugby supporters to give blood.

In the run up to and during the Rugby World Cup, the NHS has run the campaign to try and combat the lack of new donors coming forward to provide the right mix of blood to match patients' needs and replace those who can’t donate any more.

This was the first time giving blood for Rorie Hannigan, first team captain. He said: "Quite a few players have family and friends who work down at Wexham so it's really good to support them."

Mr Coombes organised for the players to join the drive but on this occasion was unable to give blood himself as he is an airline pilot and was working the next day. He added: "It was fed back from the guys that they wanted to do this, a lot of them really find it rewarding to do it.

"It's something so easy to do, it almost organised itself because everyone was so up for getting involved."

Not all of the players were able to give blood on the night due to a shortage of appointments but around 14 members of the team took part in the drive and the team will be looking to hold another donation night in the future.

After giving blood, the team went for a curry at Farnham Commons Sports Club to discuss any concerns or issues relating to the club.

Mr Coombes added: "Tuesdays are our training night so we knew everyone was free.

"We decided it would be best not to train tonight though, we don't need the hospital to focus on us."

To register to become a blood donor, visit www.my.blood.co.uk