A POPULAR young rugby player from Evesham with a brilliant future ahead of him has died after a freak accident at a club dinner.

Teacher Matt Brace lost his fight for life on Wednesday afternoon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

The 25-five-year-old was outside when he fell from a height of about 7ft following a dinner at Evesham Rugby Club at 2.45am on Saturday.

He was initially taken to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch with a fractured skull and later transferred to the Queen Elizabeth where he underwent an operation, but he never regained consciousness.

Yesterday family and friends paid tribute to Mr Brace, of St Phillip’s Drive.

One of his best friends, Evesham town councillor Charlie Homer, said: “Everyone’s thoughts are with his parents and his family.

"It is incredible the amount of people his life has touched. Hundreds of comments are on his Facebook page. He was a true gent.”

In a statement Mr Brace’s parents Stuart and Anne Brace said: “We are devastated by the sad loss of a much loved son and we want to thank all his friends for their love and prayers which are an enormous support to us at the moment.”

Paddy Hartley, president of Evesham Rugby Club, said: “The accident happened after a dinner on Friday night.

“The speaker was former England international rugby player Dean Richards and we all had a great time.

“I and other senior members of the club left at about midnight. It turned out to be such a sad end to what had been a wonderful evening.”

Mr Hartley said an awards ceremony planned for Saturday night was cancelled out of respect.

Graham Tyrer, the headteacher of Chenderit School in Banbury, where Mr Brace worked as a business and economics teacher and head of enterprise, said he had been one of the most highly regarded teachers in the school.

“He is one of the most highly skilled professionals that it has ever been my pleasure to work with,” he said.

“He gets great results from his children.”

Police were called to the scene of the accident last Saturday morning but a spokesman for the force said they were not treating it as suspicious.

• Please leave your tributes below.