SEVEN adorable kittens abandoned by their mother and rescued during England's rugby World Cup clash against Wales have been named after the players.

The cute kittens, which are believed to have been dumped by their stray mother, are just four-weeks-old and are so tiny they can fit in the palm of a hand.

The cats were found last Saturday while England hosted Wales for their pool A fixture at Twickenham, which resulted in a 28-25 loss for the home nation.A member of the public, who had seen the mother cat and kittens regularly by a stables yard in Southampton, Hants, had been putting food down for the cats for a couple of weeks.

They became concerned when they didn't see the mother cat for a couple of weeks and noticed the kittens looked unwell.

They took the seven kittens to Blue Cross rehoming centre in Southampton and they were named after rugby players because they arrived while England were playing Wales.

The kittens that have been given names after the English players are called: Marler (Joe Marler), May (Jonny May), Watson (Anthony Watson) and Morgan (Ben Morgan).

Those that have been named after Welsh rugby players are called: Cuthbert (Alex Cuthbert), Francis (Tomas Francis) and Moriarty (Ross Moriarty).

Each of the kittens was hungry and dirty as they had not been cleaned, but staff at Blue Cross were able to care for them and they are now healthier.

Elena Cavazza, from Southampton Blue Cross, said: "It's so lucky that these little kittens were found and brought to us.

Daily Echo:

"It's lucky because they were struggling without their mum at such a young age and were in quite a bad way when they arrived.

"They are making great progress now though and they are really lovely and playful - even if they're not that great with a rugby ball!

"They will all make fantastic pets once they're old enough to go to new homes."