On Thursday 15th February Tim Westwood and myself (both RFU CRCs for Leicestershire) held our fourth and final half-term masterclass which was kindly hosted by Market Bosworth RFC. This time our focus was on contact skills. Gary Rudkin (RFU CRC Derbyshire) was also on hand to help deliver the session.

The weather was fine and the skills on display were already of a high standard. Players from Coalville, Ashby, Market Bosworth, Hinckley, Market Harborough, Vipers and Leicester Forest certainly learned a lot and were a credit to their clubs. Feedback on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/leicscrc) has been really positive.

We were lucky enough to be joined by Kuldeep who coaches the Delhi Hurricanes and current All Indian National Champions and Deepak who is the National fly half. They were on a fact finding mission to improve the standard of rugby in India and increase the number of participants.

Kuldeep explained that he was part of an Indian national team that had played Leicester Tigers over a decade ago and had played Second row, fly half and centre in the same game!

Deepak had been told by his father that his brother was to be the cricketer in his family and he was to become a rugby player. Showing early promise he started playing adult rugby at 15 (the Regulations have now been tightened up before anyone contacts the safeguarding team!) and represented India aged 17.

Looking down with envy at soft  grassy conditions at Market Bosworth they explained how their pitches were as hard as concrete. They coach kids of all ages once a week over a three hour period, where they can have up to 500 children, with a coach to player ratio often around 1/60!  Adult games are usually played at festivals over a weekend due to the lack of nearby teams.

The adult league consists of two divisions of 8 teams, the top division being quite competitive of decent rugby players whereas the bottom division was far more developmental.

We discussed at length about how we plan and structure our sessions and primarily learn through games. This was quite a new concept for them and gave them a lot to think about.

Two great guys who were really passionate about their rugby. I left them to carry on their fact finding mission being hosted by Leicester Tigers and I believe a training session with Vipers RFC.

Phil Milton, RFU CRC