The Guinness World Records for the longest game of both men and women's rugby have been broken.
The world record for the longest game of men's rugby was broken this evening while the record for the longest game of women's rugby was broken earlier this morning.
Tagged as 'The Longest Game', the men's record stood at 30 hours 29 minutes while the women's record was 24 hours and 5 minutes.
The games began at Mullingar Rugby Club at 8am yesterday morning.
92 players across four teams took part in the non-stop match. Two men's squads of 23 players each and two women's teams of 23 players each. The games were 15-a-side and players rotated to allow for rest.
Former English Rugby player Tamara Taylor said it had been an emotional rollercoaster.
"The weather has just been amazing, if you're sat eating an ice cream and watching on the sidelines, but to be on playing for four and five hour stints of contact rugby in this heat, has been pretty tough," she said.
"And then last night when the sun went down it got really cold so it got physically and also mentally tough," she added.
Support teams, including physios, medics and chefs, ensured participants stayed fuelled and in shape while regular water breaks were permitted.
However it was more than just a test of physical endurance because the aim is to raise money for charity.
The charities that will benefit are mental health charity LooseHeadz and Wooden Spoon, which supports children and young people playing rugby.
"We want to go above and beyond the standard 80 minutes of a rugby game and we're hoping to raise over £100,000 to go towards our efforts to tackle the stigma around mental health in rugby, raise awareness and, most importantly, improve and save lives," said Rob Shotton, co-founder of LooseHeadz.
"We're incredibly proud to be partnering with Wooden Spoon in this historic event; with their help, we've strengthened the foundations around mental health awareness," he said.
While the men's team broke the record this evening, they are continuing to play to ensure their record is not broken for some time to come.
Former Scotland and Lion player Gavin Hastings visited the teams at Mullingar Rugby Club earlier today.
"I'm tired watching them but I said before, if you're setting a world record, it's not going to be easy, right? No one said setting records is easy," he said.
"These guys have gone through the ringer over the last 36 hours but they've really achieved something while also raising money for two amazing charities," he added.
Mullingar Rugby Club has been playing host to the challenge for the last two days.
"This has been great for our rugby community here in Mullingar, everybody has come out to help," said Denis McDermott, Vice-Chairperson of Mullingar Rugby Club.
"We've had loads of our own members come out and do witnesses for us here and the kids are running out with water and doing whatever they can to help the players here so it's been wonderful experience" he added.
