Captain Tom Flanagan, Alex Woodyard, Jack Payne, Ellis Iandolo and head coach Danny Cowley spent time chatting with patients and families, and finding out all about St Helena.

Danny said: "It's such a pleasure and a privilege for us to be here and we’re so appreciative of being invited first and foremost.

"Just to spend some time with obviously the patients and their families and of course the nurses who are just incredible. I've been so inspired by their positive energy and their outlook.

"It just seems such a lovely place to come and to spend some time."

The players had a whip round and arrived with two sensory projectors which display atmospheric patterns and colours on the ceiling, which will be fantastic for patients who cannot move around.

Kirsty Smith, senior ward sister, said:

"It was lovely of the guys to come and see our patients here. It's been such an amazing experience for all of them"

Tom Flanagan, U's captain, told the Gazette: "It’s a pretty amazing place. Everyone has been so positive. The way that the patients we spoke to talked about the staff said it all.

"When they’re in the toughest period of their life and all they can think about is how good the staff are being to them speaks volumes. The staff are pretty amazing and give so much energy, all of the time.

“We put some donations together and managed to donate two bits of kit and I think we all realised how important this kind of thing is. We don’t realise how lucky we are, the amount of things we get in life for free.”