British Lion teaches Worksop rugby kids how to roar

John Bentley, who played for Great Britain in both rugby union and rugby league, paid a visit to Stubbing Lane last week to pass on his expertise to the club’s youngsters.

And organiser of the special visit, Mark Walker, told the Guardian it was a successful evening.

“It was fantastic,” he said.

“Going on from the coaching session, John has invited the kids up to Leeds Carnegie.”

“They’ll go up there one morning before Christmas, when Leeds are playing at home, and the players will train our kids.”

“The kids will then go on the pitch at half-time to have a knock about.”

Bentley’s wisdom was not only picked up by the junior players last Thursday, but by Worksop’s coaches as well.

Walker said: “We wanted our coaches Tim Lewis, Andrew Waddell and Justin Poxon to take note of his drills and the way he does things.”

“John put an emphasis on taking command on the field and putting your name on the ball.”

“I said to the coaches that they should take mental notes during the session and write it all down later on.”

“John played rugby league for Great Britain and was a winning British Lion in 1997, so if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, no one does.”

And the youngsters in attendance were suitably impressed by their special guest.

“Quite a few of the kids came down and had done a bit of homework on him,” Walker explained.

“They had a few things for him to sign, England shirts and books with pictures of him in.”

“The majority of kids were our Under 15s, and there were some of the tag rugby kids as well, the six to eights.”

“They can’t wait to go up to Leeds.”

“We took them to Rotherham Titans last year for a similar trip, so they know what to expect.”