FORMER British & Irish Lion Mike Phillips was a superstar guest at Rams RFC as he ran a coaching masterclass for the club’s juniors on Wednesday evening.
The scrum-half, who won five caps for the Lions and 94 for Wales, shared some tips with the club’s youngsters during an hour-and-a-half session and admitted afterwards how impressed he was with everything involved at Old Bath Road.
He said: “It was really good – there are amazing facilities which have blew me away really, perhaps better than most of the clubs I played for.
“It was lovely, the kids were fantastic and they’ve got good skills.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I got to do a lot with them and I loved it. It was great to see all the kids so enthusiastic about rugby and was fantastic.”
He continued: “I was panicking a bit about the session because as a scrum-half you have to be so skillful and comfortable with the ball in your hand and that’s what I was trying to do – get them doing lots of two-ball drills and some single-hand stuff.
“A lot of it they can take away and work on themselves. In rugby, if you want to make it to the top you have to be dedicated and I told them when I was a young kid I always had a ball in my hand, constantly throwing it up in the air.
“When you’re comfortable with the ball in your hands – and you see it at international level – the best players in the world can off-load when they want which is so important to the game.
“We worked hard on a lot of that along with basic passing and catching because it’s so vital.
“Even at the highest level of the game you can see the ones who can do that and the ones who can’t.”
Under 14 Elliott Jones was among those who took part in the session, and he said: “It was a great experience to be taught by one of the best recent scrum-halves in world rugby – it was amazing to have such an experienced player come to spend time and teach us.
“I learnt what I need to do with my weaker hand and lots of other things. It was brilliant.”
Rams’ Academy Lead, Danny Batty, said: “Mike was absolutely fantastic – he really is a great coach.
“He had everyone interested and passed on so many skills – and was quite happy to stay way longer than we were expecting.
“We’re really grateful to him and hopefully he can inspire our No. 9s to kick on.”
Mike Phillips’ autobiography ‘Half Truths: My Triumphs, My Mistakes, My Untold Story’ is released on October 21.
