In what was a raucous, fun-filled and romantic evening at Kingsholm, Gloucester Rugby players did all they could to woo 17 lucky ladies who had been handpicked for the club's very own version of popular Saturday night TV show Take Me Out.
Freddie Burns played host as ladies from as far afield as London and Sussex travelled to Gloucester for this one-off event in a bid to win a date with Matt Cox, Dan Robson, Tommaso D'Apice and Yann Thomas.
While the women had the upper hand at first, turning their lights off if they were not interested in the players, it was up to the players to whittle the number down to two and then choose the lady he was most interested in to take on a romantic group date to the 'Isle of Nandos'.
With videos describing what the player is looking for in a lady, videos in which friends said what they thought of that player's quest to find love, and a section in which the player could demonstrate their very own 'talents', there were laughs, whoops and cheers aplenty from the crowd of more than 200 players.
For the energetic and hilarious Freddie Burns, who was nervous before taking on the role of host made infamous by Paddy McGuiness' and wearing a shocking shirt, explained he only decided to play host to escape being a contestant.
"The charity got me. I wanted to my bit for the charity and when they asked me to host I realised it got me out of being a contestant so I took it on," he said.
"I wouldn't have done very well at all as a contestant. There probably would have been a black-out, but I'm sure I'll get rejected in another way as host, rather than 18 lights being turned off for me.
"Charity is very important to Gloucester Rugby. It's good for the club to have their chosen charities.
"It's good for the players to get out, have a bit of fun, interact with the fans, and for people to come to Kingsholm to raise some money.
He thought the players' chances of finding love was 'debatable', but praised the girls who were up for a laugh.
Some of those girls had travelled a long way to get to the event. Emma Thurston, 25, who really entertained the crowd and won a date with Tommaso D'Apice, had come from London, while Evie Broad, 22, had travelled from Sussex.
Louise was matched with Dan Robson, after her friend Stephanie Young announced to the audience she had a soft spot for him.
Stephanie was paired with Matt Cox, whose 'talent' was making balloon dogs, a winning move he learnt in less than 24 hours.
Stephanie, whose dad entered her onto the show, admitted she had a crush on Cox and was holding out for him.
Gloucester prop Yann Thomas, 22, and Italian Tommasso D'Apice, 25, wowed the crowd with their dulcet tones, Yann singing 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered' a capella and Tommasso enjoying his moment in the spotlight with a guitar accompanied version of Ronan Keating's 'If Tomorrow Never Comes'.
Yann won a date with 37-year-old Michelle Garland from Cheltenham, who said she felt 'blessed and very lucky'. While Yann was nervous beforehand, he was happy to have 'a lovely lady in a green dress to take on a date'.
Yann's singing completely won Michelle over, which he describes as a 'hidden talent'.
The sell-out event, held in the 1873 Suite last night, was a charity fundraising event for The Fold, an orphanage in the Limpopo region of South Africa, and organiser Helen Chu hopes they have raised over £1000.
Helen said: "We're aiming to raise £10,000 for charity and we knew we weren't going to do it all at once so we had to think of lots of different ideas.
"The show was on at the time and we thought it would be a good idea.
It was a bit of a joke to start with, but we thought we'd see if any of the boys would be interested in doing it. We had a good response so we went for it."
Contestant Chris Jordan, 46, had entered with a friend who subsequently dropped out, said for her, it was all about the charity.
"I'm hoping for lots of laughs, I'm hoping to create lots of laughs, but I'm not expecting to get a date!" she laughed.
"It's all about the charity, it is an excellent charity. My son plays rugby and will be visiting the orphanage in the summer."
Helen could not have been happier with how the fun evening went, a reward for the time and effort she and colleague Bryony Narbeth dedicated to organising the event, and wanted to thank everyone who bought a ticket,
"I hope everyone really enjoyed themselves. It was fun to put together," she said.
"Seeing so many people here, seeing the players get behind it and seeing everyone come together to really support the charity were highlights for me."
"Bryony and I have been quite stressed the last few days getting everything together but we can breathe a sigh of relief now that it's over and went well."
Gloucester Rugby are very grateful to Nandos for their support in being the venue of the group date.
To support Gloucester Rugby's chosen charity, The Fold, visit the website: http://www.goodshepherdsfold.org/
Reporting: Laura Fell. Photographs Rosie Watts
