Players and fans turn on Just Stop Oil protesters as Premiership Rugby final interrupted

Just Stop Oil protesters were showered with beer by rugby fans as they brought the Premiership final at Twickenham to a halt.

Two men leapt over a knee-high barrier to run onto the pitch and release a cloud of orange paint, 20 minutes into the game between Sale Sharks and Saracens.

Sale and England flanker Tom Curry helped remove a protester from the pitch, grabbing his jeans and helping stadium staff lift him away, while Sale captain Jono Ross had to be restrained from physically engaging the other man.

Ross, after the final match of his career, said: “I don’t agree with what they do. I don’t agree with it at all. It is completely against everything I believe in.

“Then to come into sporting events and ruin sporting events week in week out, I don’t agree with it. I don’t agree with what they stand for.”

Saracens and England second row Maro Itoje said: “You can't pay too much attention to it. Fair play to the guys who are tackling them. I was just conserving my energy.”

The demonstration drew boos from the crowd, who threw beer and other projectiles at the pair as they were escorted out by stewards.

They were subsequently arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage.

It comes two days after a Just Stop Oil protest at the Chelsea Flower Show, where demonstrators were hosed down by an incensed onlooker.

Just Stop Oil, which is demanding a halt to any new licences for oil, gas and coal projects, has named the two men as Dr Patrick Hart, a 37-year-old Bristol GP, and construction worker Sam Johnson, 40, from Essex.

Dr Hart claimed he had invaded the rugby pitch because it was his “duty as a doctor”.

Dr Hart continued: “In the same way the tobacco companies lied to us that tobacco was safe, the scrum of fossil fuel companies and corrupt politicians have been lying to us.

“They are keeping us addicted to fossil fuels, even though they know it’s killing us. I am not prepared to let them get away with mass murder.”

Referee Luke Pearce stopped play for several minutes as the protesters were taken off the pitch. Saracens scored a penalty try once the match had restarted.

Alex Sanderson, Sale’s director of rugby, said: “[My] reaction was just ‘what’s the next job’. I can’t run on and throttle them myself. That did create a break in the game from which they scored off the back of. It just shows the intensity of concentration you need.”

The apparent ease with which the men made their way onto the pitch is likely to raise questions about the stadium's security arrangements.

Twickenham Stadium paid tribute to its stewarding team, saying they “acted quickly and decisively”.The demonstrators drew online condemnation, with one person – apparently present at the match – calling them “muppets” and urging them to “let the rugby play on”.

Since its campaign began last year, Just Stop Oil claims that more than 2,000 members have been arrested and 138 sent to prison.

At the Chelsea Flower Show on Thursday, three Just Stop Oil demonstrators crossed the barrier into an award-winning garden and threw its orange powder on the plants.

A woman responded by taking a nearby hose and dousing protesters in water.

Security staff for the Royal Horticultural Society eventually managed to shepherd the trio out of the showground, where they were arrested.

In April, the group disrupted a match at the World Snooker Championship, with a man tipping orange paint on a table at the Crucible in Sheffield.

The Met said in a statement: “Two men have been arrested after paint was thrown on the pitch during the rugby union final at Twickenham today.

“The men were both arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage. They have been taken into custody.”