FORMER ENGLAND RUGBY CAPTAIN inspires u14s
Ollie Phillips, ex England 7s captain, led a training session for the U14s 7s squad, at the St Benedict’s playing fields.
In the 90 minute session, the boys gained a deeper understanding of the principles of 7s and gained valuable insight into specific skills relevant to the game. Alongside this, as an intrepid adventurer, Ollie also shared valuable lessons in resilience, honesty and effort that he has learned through his experiences in the Clipper Round the World race, where he covered 40,000 miles of open water in 11 months.
Following the session, Mr Juan Murray, the lead U14 coach said: “It was such a privilege to have Ollie run a session with us, particularly in the lead up to our first tournament at Merchant Taylors next weekend. The boys had a fantastic time and learned a huge amount throughout the session.”
Cathal Sheehan, a member of the U14s 7s squad, said: “Ollie Phillips taught us lots of new things to help us with our 7s season, with the focus on how to attack. Some of the skills he taught us were to run straight, move the ball to the wings and run from deep onto offloads. The main aim of the session was work rate: throughout the afternoon he said, if in attack or in defence, always put in 100%. He taught us quite a lot. Many of the others who took part also said the session was very beneficial and that they would use some of the skills in our upcoming tournaments.”
The training session, which was kindly donation by a parent, gave the U14s a unique and inspirational opportunity. Ollie Phillips was voted the ‘Best Seven’s Player in the World’ in 2009, and has distinguished rugby career spanning 14 years.