Premiership Rugby players James Hudson and Chris Pilgrim were at Darlington Rugby Club this week to take a specialist training session after the club was announced as a winner of the QBE Rugby Pro competition.
Members of the Darlington RFC women’s side trained with the Newcastle Falcons players courtesy of QBE, the business insurance specialist. They are one of twelve grassroots rugby clubs across the country to be awarded a training session with three Premiership Rugby players. In addition, the club received £1,000 worth of training equipment.
The prizes were awarded to clubs who demonstrated how winning the training session and equipment would benefit the development of the club. The judges were impressed by Darlington’s community spirit and their commitment to introducing more women to the sport. Their enthusiasm and ambition to gain promotion also shone through in their entry.
The training session provided the Darlington RFC women’s team with the rare opportunity to learn from professionals and pick up specialist advice on core rugby skills and game play. This was followed by a meet and greet with the Newcastle Falcons players.
Lindsay Evans, a key member of Darlington RFC’s women’s side, said: “The training session taken by the Falcons players was a great success as our team got the opportunity to develop a number of new skills. Hopefully this will greatly benefit the squad as the season reaches its climax. We are very grateful to QBE for this fantastic experience and the new training equipment.”
James Hudson, Newcastle Falcons captain, said: “I think that QBE Rugby Pro is a fantastic initiative and it is great to be able to give something back to the grassroots game. It has been fun working with Darlington and I hope that the access to professional players and coaches during the specialist training today will inspire them further.”
QBE Rugby Pro is part of the business insurer’s commitment to the development of rugby. For more information on the winning clubs and further details on QBE Rugby Pro visit www.qberugby.com.
