London Irish AASE players train with England coach John Mitchell

On Friday 12 July a mixture of London Irish AASE players travelled to Pennyhill Park in Bagshot to take part in training session led by England defence coach, John Mitchell.

The session was used to capture content for the RFU’s coach education hub, with the training scenarios concentrating on the breakdown.

All the boys that trained at Pennyhill Park are in the London Irish AASE programme. They were predominantly in upper sixth, with a couple of lower sixth boys too, across a real mixture of positions.

Such was the opportunity, only a selection of places were available. London Irish AASE manager, Richard Pryor, was faced with a difficult decision. “There was no fair way of doing it so rock, paper, scissors was the winner.”

Richard Pryor talked of the excitement the players were feeling following the session.

“It was a once in life-time opportunity for them. Not many young rugby players are fortunate enough to train in an environment like this and have a coach with John’s expertise and knowledge of the game.

“The boys have taken on board what John was talking about and want to incorporate some of the points learnt into their own rugby this season.

“It was a great opportunity for the lads to be invited, and we are very grateful to the RFU and to John for allowing us the opportunity.”

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