Land Rover, a Worldwide Partner of Rugby World Cup 2015, has surprised a young Irish child with a once in a lifetime opportunity: a trip to the Tournament as an official Land Rover Mascot for Ireland.

Sean Berney Treacey, a 10-year old resident of Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, will join Land Rover as an official Mascot at Rugby World Cup 2015, as a result of Land Rover’s unique #WeDealInReal campaign for the Tournament. As part of the campaign, which will champion the people at the heart and soul of the game by putting grassroots rugby on the global stage, Land Rover is recruiting all 96 Mascots across the 48 matches.

Sean, who plays for Newbridge Rugby Football Club, will be the official
Mascot at Ireland’s Pool D game on 11 October 2015 when the side face off against France at Cardiff’s iconic Millennium Stadium. He is one of 20 lucky children from around the world, one from each of the participating nations, being given this once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity of being right at the heart of the action on Rugby’s biggest stage.

Jamie Heaslip, a Land Rover Ambassador and current Ireland Rugby star, made a surprise visit to Sean’s home this week, delivering the news to Sean in person that he will be travelling to Cardiff in October to take his place in the players’ tunnel alongside the Irish Rugby captain. In front of his excited parents, Sean was told he’ll have the opportunity to lead out the national team in Cardiff and sing the national anthem in front of 90,000 passionate Rugby fans.

Heaslip, who represented Ireland at Rugby World Cup 2011, said: “It was an emotional experience to visit Sean and see his reaction. It is the peak of any Rugby player’s career to reach a Rugby World Cup and thanks to Land Rover, Sean, who is obviously an incredibly passionate Rugby fan, will have the amazing chance to experience the pinnacle of the global Game first-hand.”

To be in with a chance of winning this amazing prize, young rugby fans were invited to post videos of themselves explaining why they should be an Official Mascot for Ireland at Rugby World Cup 2015

After the auditions were judged by a panel compromising Jaguar Land Rover representatives and Heaslip himself, Sean stood out as the winner, with a stirring rendition of Ireland’s Call and an inspiring motivational team talk in which he said: “If you walk off this pitch, knowing that you gave your absolute all, that you did absolutely everything you can to win this match, then that’s all that matters.”