A sunny April evening saw Oadby Wyggestonian RFC under 13’s treated to a unique and amazing training session with two of their rugby heroes, Ben Youngs and Chris Ashton as part of Land Rover’s support of grass roots rugby.
The lucky rugby club won the opportunity through youngster Tom Sellicks, whose parents entered a competition through the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup to win a training session with the rugby stars.
The two Premiership Rugby players were welcomed by the excitable youngsters from Oadby RFC, who were swiftly put through their paces during an enjoyable but challenging training session. The team were able to benefit greatly from the advice that Youngs and Ashton were able to pass on during the drills.
Youngs was pleased to be at the event, “Today is all about getting back to grassroots rugby through the support of Land Rover. . . These children are really supportive of us and watch us every week, it’s nice to give something back – I really enjoyed teaching them a thing or two.”
A sentiment that Chris Ashton shared, as well as stressing how impressed he was with the team’s ability, “They’re good – especially for kids of such a young age, some of them are pretty impressive.”
Speaking on this once in a lifetime opportunity, the winning child Tom said “It was really exciting, I have watched both players on TV and it was amazing to talk to them and have a training session with them. I was really pleased to win this prize for the rest of my team, and especially to get some tips from Ben Youngs as I also play scrum-half.”
Once the training session was finished, everyone retreated to the club-house where Youngs and Ashton answered questions from the youngsters, explaining how they worked their way up to the elite level of the sport. In addition, the players signed autographs and had their pictures taken before everyone departed after a truly special evening.
Take a look at the video and photos from the day below:
