The Rugby Football Union has secured a new lucrative deal with Honda UK that will see the automotive manufacture take on naming rights, branding and exposure from grassroots to the elite level.

As part of the multi-year deal that includes a fleet of vehicles for England Rugby and its employees, Honda’s logo will feature on the England men’s U18 and U20 playing and training kits.

In addition, England Rugby senior men’s official training centre, located at Pennyhill Park, will be renamed the Honda England Rugby Performance Centre.

RFU CEO, Bill Sweeney, said: “We are delighted to confirm Honda UK as an Official Partner of the RFU and England Rugby.”

“Honda is a massive global brand well-known for its innovation and we are certain it will be a great fit for us. 

“Honda’s global brand positioning is enabling ‘the Power of Dreams’ and ‘challenging spirit’ which is synonymous with our own.

“We look forward to working with Honda on what will no doubt be some exciting partnership activations over the next few years,” Sweeney said.

To celebrate the launch of the new partnership with RFU, Honda created a 100ft long set of rugby goalposts from its fleet of new cars, using a total of 49 models varying in size and colour.

Head of Automobile, Honda UK, Rebecca Adamson, said: “On a brand level, there are huge synergies between Honda and England Rugby and we truly believe it’s a partnership that supports our own philosophy of giving everyone the ‘Power to Dream’ and we’re all very excited to see what the next few years will bring.”

“For a bit of fun, we thought we’d turn our large car park at Portbury into a giant set of rugby posts which could be visible from quite a distance.”

Honda will also now become the first titled partner of the Rugby Grounds Connected programme, as well as offering their support to grassroots rugby by volunteering through the Honda Volunteer Recognition Programme.