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England world cup winner Will Greenwood attended the formal opening at the university’s Falmer campus, along with junior rugby teams from Shoreham, Lewes and Brighton and Hove. Players from the Samoa rugby team, based at the university’s Falmer campus, were training just yards away.

The Webb Ellis Cup, lifted by Will Greenwood and England in 2003, is on tour round the country before the world cup kicks off on 18 September.

The university’s new pavilion, which houses state-of-the-art sport seminar rooms and changing facilities, was nominated for a national award for its pioneering waste water heat recovery system that reduces energy consumption by 58 per cent.

Sarah Hogg, the university’s Director of Sport and Recreation, said: “The pavilion is part of the university’s substantial investment in sports facilities that benefit students, staff and the community.

Will Greenwood and daughter Matilda

Lewes Rugby Club juniors with the world cup

“Over the past ten years we have invested millions of pounds in developing a range of sport facilities and we are really proud our investment is reaping rewards – sport participation levels at the university are increasing significantly.

“We host a number of community clubs, local groups and sporting events on campus and we are absolutely delighted that our facilities were selected by the Rugby World Cup organisers to host the Samoan team at Falmer and the South African team at the university’s sports facilities at our campus in Eastbourne.

“This is really exciting for Eastbourne, Brighton and the whole of Sussex – we are delighted.”

Will Greenwood said it was great two world cup teams were using university facilities: “Brighton is up and running.”

The Samoans arrived on Monday 31 August and trained at Falmer before their warm-up match with the Barbarians at the Olympic Stadium in London at the weekend. Sarah Hogg said the Samoans were “very big and very fit” and extra-heavy weights had to be brought into the gym for the Samoans to lift.

Professor Julian Crampton, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, said: “We are delighted to be hosting two of the world cup teams and we were honoured to display the Webb Ellis Cup. There is a real buzz around the university for its involvement in what is one of the world’s greatest tournaments.

“And we are very proud of our new pavilion – it joins our expanding portfolio of first-class sporting facilities.”

The Samoan rugby team training at Falmer