IT was a rugby match played in the least hospitable of conditions to a handful of spectators, but for those who took part in the Arctic challenge it was a "once in a lifetime" experience.

Two Scots who competed in a world record-breaking rugby sevens match in the North Pole have described the incredible experience as they returned to Scotland after three week round trip in aid of the children's charity, Wooden Spoon.

Former Edinburgh and Scotland A players, John Houston and Steven Turnbull, were among a team of 11 players who trekked five days to the Magnetic North Pole to take part in the northernmost rugby match in history, earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The challenge was launched to raise £300,000 to support life-changing projects across the UK and Ireland for disadvantaged and disabled children.

The journey saw them spend five days travelling from Edinburgh to Resolute Bay, one of Canada's most remote communities. From there, they spent a further five days on foot, surviving on rations of cheese and chocolate to fuel them with 6000 calories-a-day as they trekked for nine hours each day across the frozen wastes to their destination.

"It was a very plain diet," said 28-year-old Mr Turnbull, who retired from professional rugby in 2013 following a knee injury. "It basically consisted of a breakfast of dried oatmeal, then we all got given a bag each day that contained chocolate, cheese, peanuts and dried fruit mixed up in the same bag. That lasted us for the whole day.

"We would walk about nine hours a day and every couple of hours we would just dip into this bag. By the end of it, it got quite boring."

Once at their destination, they had just an hour to transform the snow and ice into a rudimentary rugby pitch, with the match kicking off as soon as the supporters' plane carrying a handful of spectators and sponsors' banners touched down.

Mr Houston, 32, who plays for Edinburgh Rugby, said: "It was incredible, just going from this sheet of ice to a proper rugby pitch in an hour. All we did was put up the posts and marked out the pitch.

"The supporters' plane was only allowed to be on the ground for an hour and a half so the call went out 'put your shirts on', and we just had to run out."

"It was an absolutely wonderful experience, I really enjoyed it and made some great friends. Hopefully we've raised awareness of the Wooden Spoon charity and the work that they do and translate that into even more donations."

The pair were also joined by two Scottish amateur rugby players, Andrew Walker, originally from Dumfries, and Fergus Davidson, from Edinburgh for the challenge.

The teams, made up of players from all four Home Nations, were led by former England players Tim Stimpson and Ollie Phillips.

Houston and Walker were in the winning side as Stimpson's squad ran out 17-14 winners against Phillips side, which contained Mr Turnbull and Mr Davidson.

The game which was refereed by Lee Mears was described by the organisers as 'closely fought' and thankfully saw no injuries - despite the conditions.

"We had chat before about maybe taking it a bit easier and being sensible, but as soon as the game kicked off it was out the window and it was a full-on game of rugby," said Mr Houston.

"One of the guys played in shorts - the rest of us wore our undergarments, a fleece and then a rugby top.

"We wore our big snow boots though so that made the running incredibly slow which probably helped with the lack of injuries."

The players arrived home on Tuesday night after another lengthy return journey via Ottawa and Heathrow.

Mr Turnbull said: "I'm glad to be home. Obviously I'll miss the challenge - it was an incredible bunch of guys that we did it with. Everybody got on great, we were all in it for the right reasons, but I'm certainly glad to be home and looking forward to having a hot shower and a bed. I won't miss sleeping in a tent for so long."