Barbarians chairman John Spencer (Wharfedale), through their Charitable Trust, has donated £2,000 to the Rugby Football Union Injured Players’ Foundation (IPF).

Injured players from across the country will now receive vital support.

The Barbarians Charitable Trust also provided complementary match tickets to the Barbarians versus Australia match at Twickenham Stadium on November 26 for volunteers from the local Twickenham-Upon-Thames Rotary group who helped them raise a further £1,000 through a bucket collection at the match.

Karen Hood, IPF medical manager, said: “The Foundation is so grateful for this very generous donation from the Barbarians.

"Without the support of the whole rugby family, we wouldn’t be able to help those that need it the most, or continue our work researching injury prevention and supporting grass-roots first-aid training.

"A donation of this sum can help us to fund a training course for a member so they can retrain in a new career or adapt a kitchen to allow wheelchair access, for example.”

So far this season the IPF has already funded over £65,000 of research and education work to help protect players across all levels of the game from getting seriously injured, as well as over £170,000 to help support seriously injured rugby players in areas such as education, training, communication, transport, house renovations and living equipment .

Hood added: “Our work, of course, is always on-going and we hope to raise £1million to provide more support for our seriously injured players, as well as raise £500,000 for injury-prevention research and grass-roots first aid and training.

"A million pounds, raised over four years, would mean more support for players who are permanently disabled, including vehicle adaptations, house conversions, communication aids, retraining courses and adapted sports equipment.

“Half a million pounds raised over four years would mean we could help to make the game safer through more injury prevention research and funding for grass-roots first aid training and equipment.”

The IPF is an official charity of the RFU (Charity No. 1122139).

For more information visit rfuipf.org.uk.