Painswick RFC’s youth section enjoyed rubbing shoulders with a raft of Gloucester stars.
Nicky Thomas, Henry Trinder, Tom Lindsay and Billy Burns spent the morning working with all age groups from U6s to U15s.
Martin Lewis, head coach and coaching coordinator said: “We are really proud to be part of the community work Gloucester Rugby does, offering players to the clubs. It’s really important for the professional players to show the young players the pathway between playing on a Sunday and the professional game.”
The players joined in with the minis, showing ball handling skills, long passing and joined with tag rugby sessions. With the older groups, they worked on the more technical aspects of the game giving some professional insights that noticeably increased the skills of the players.
Gloucester star Tinder added: “It’s my first time I’ve been here to coach and help in any way with some basic skills such as passing or giving some tips and getting involved in the session. It’s really good to see so many people playing rugby.”
Painswick RFC is the oldest village rugby club in England - a fact commemorated in the Museum of Rugby at Twickenham.
Early games were played in white or work clothes making it difficult for the players to distinguish who was the opposition.
So the Painswick vicar at the time persuaded his wife to cut up her red curtains for sashes for the home team and the 'Cherry and Whites' name was born. Painswick still proudly wear the colours today.
The story goes that Painswick lent Gloucester a set of shirts at their inception, but the Cherry and Whites from Kingsholm never returned them. To commemorate Painswick's 130th anniversary, and to return the favour done by the village side all those years ago,in 2012 Gloucester presented Painswick with the full set of set of Zurich championship winning shirts as worn at Twickenham.
Painswick RFC is proud of its long history of providing rugby in the village and surrounding districts.
Started by a senior side all those years ago playing in their work shirts and now providing rugby on a Sunday morning to some 260 mini and junior players.
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