Premiership Rugby players Semisi Taulava and Chris Pennell were at Sixways on Wednesday to take a specialist training session after Veseyans RFC were announced as a winner of the QBE Rugby Pro competition.
Players from Veseyans RFC Under 16s trained with the Warriors duo and the club's coaches courtesy of QBE, the business insurance specialist.
Veseyans were one of 12 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 best demonstrated the benefits of receiving expert guidance from top Premiership Rugby coaches and players.
The judges were particularly impressed by Veseyans' development as a club in recent years. Having only established junior sides in 2009, Veseyans were able to field teams from Under 12s to Under 16s this season as the club recognised the necessity for local kids of these age groups to participate in rugby to develop their life and personal skills.
The training session provided the Veseyans players with the rare opportunity to learn from professionals and pick up specialist advice on core rugby skills and game play.
Iain Tatlow, Chairman of Veseyans RFC, said: “The training session taken by the Worcester Warriors players and coaches was a great success as our team got the opportunity to develop and learn a number of new skills.
“Hopefully this will greatly benefit the squad throughout the remainder of this, and future seasons. We are very grateful to QBE for this fantastic experience as well as the new training equipment.”
Taulava said: “QBE Rugby Pro is a great initiative and it is important to give something back to the grassroots game.
“It has been fun working with Veseyans RFC and I hope that the access to professional players and coaches during the specialist training today will have taught them new skills and will inspire them to keep playing.”
QBE Rugby Pro is part of QBE’s Coaching Programme, which aims to improve the quality of rugby coaching in England at a grassroots level. For more information on the winning clubs and further details on QBE Rugby Pro visit www.QBErugby.com.