World cup winner Danny Grewcock put Stothert and Pitt RFC through their paces last week.
IT’S not every day you get a World Cup winner to put you through your paces – but that was just the case for Stothert and Pitt RFC last week when Danny Grewcock gave the SSE competition winners a day to remember.
Stothert and Pitt are one of Bath’s oldest rugby clubs – formed in 1903 – but by one of their pack’s own admission they lack a bit of bite in the forwards.
Two-time British and Irish Lion Grewcock could never have been accused of lacking the stomach for the uglier side of the game and Dave Peacock believes a day in his company will reap big rewards.
As the RFU’s new National Community Partner SSE is committed to powering the future of English community rugby and Peacock – who entered his club into the competition – insisted rubbing shoulders with Grewcock will ensure a bright outlook for Stothert and Pitt sooner rather than later.
“I entered because we haven’t got the biggest pack in the world so we get pushed around a lot over the field,” said Peacock. “Danny’s a great help to the club, hopefully he’ll bring our technical skills up another level.
“He can help me in decision making, turning over of the ball, rucking, defending and attacking hopefully.
“Hopefully Danny’s visit will help push us on for a strong finish to the season.”
Peacock’s glowing assessment of the day was also echoed by club skipper Ben Withey, saying: “Having someone like Danny come down, someone we grew up watching, is brilliant.”
And having come through the community rugby set-up himself as a youngster for Barker Butts RFC Grewcock himself was only too pleased to lend a hand.
“It’s great that one of the boys entered the competition and so SSE were able to send me down to one of the winning clubs and put them through their paces,” said Grewcock.
“I put on some of the training sessions the boys do at Bath to make the boys’ lives difficult down here.
“Junior clubs is where everyone starts playing, certainly for me Barker Butts was my junior club where I got my first rugby games – it was a fantastic environment to learn your rugby and enjoy yourself and I’m sure it’s the same down at Stothert and Pitt.
“We’ve got a huge population of rugby players and supporters and it’s these junior clubs that support the majority and it’s fantastic. The quality of rugby gets better and better every year and I think we’ll see more and more stars coming from these junior clubs and it’s exciting times for English rugby.”
Danny Grewcock is an ambassador for SSE Rugby, supporting community rugby clubs in England. Register now on www.sserugby.com to start benefiting from the support and resources on offer, and the chance to win £10,000 of free SSE energy credits for your club.
