Penrith hosts rugby festival and kids meet Sevens and Wallabies heroes

Nepean Rugby Park hosted a rugby festival last week giving juniors the opportunity to meet their heroes ahead of the Sevens World Series.

Penrith RSL JRUC day with former Fijian 7s player Waisale Serevi at Nepean Rugby Park. Pictured are students from St Andrews Public School.

Nepean Rugby Park hosted a rugby festival powered by Serevi for the first time last week giving juniors the opportunity to meet their heroes.

The event was run by founders of the Serevi program Waisale Serevi and Ben Gollings, former sevens players and current Wallabies halves Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps.

Waisale Serevi (centre) plays a game with kids at the rugby festival.

Penrith RSL Junior Rugby Union Club players participated on the day as well as students from St Andrews Public School.

“We had close to 150 students doing lots of modified skills sessions and modified games of non-contact sevens, just general skills,” RSL club president Adam Fletcher said.

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“The players were phenomenal, they were so hands on and got in and played with the kids.”

Wallaby Bernard Foley helps students from St Andrews with their skills.

Ahead of the start of the 2014/15 Sevens World Series, Fletcher said the event was a boost for local rugby.

“The kids really enjoyed themselves and lots of them ended up asking where their local clubs are and how they get involved,” he said.

“It’s a huge boost for the game in the area, it’s good to have the people right at the top come down and get involved with the grassroots.

Wallabies player Nick Phipps plays against juniors from the Penrith RSL club.

”We are hoping for a long-term partnership with Serevi to make it an annual event with more schools involved in the future.”

Fletcher said rugby in the area had grown since the junior club started.

“When we started we only had one mini’s team and now we’ve grown to four girls teams and three boys teams at the moment, and we’re still not done recruiting for summer,” he said.

Students from St Andrews Public School participate in the rugby festival.

Bernard Foley enjoyed the event and said he was looking forward to the start of the 2014/15 Sevens World Series.

“It’s great to see Sevens rugby increasing in popularity in Australia and worldwide,” Foley said.

Pictured are students from St Andrews Public School.

“This season is the most important yet as the top four teams at the end of the HSBC Sevens World Series will automatically qualify for Rio. There has never been a more important time to get behind the Australian Sevens team.

“Seeing the team’s success at the Commonwealth Games was fantastic and a great sign of our potential. The competition for places in the Sevens squad are fierce this season, which will hopefully help drive the squad to a top four finish.”

For information on the Penrith RSL JRUC and to register visit: www.penrithrslrugby.com.au/

Former Fijian 7s player Waisale Serevi and students from St Andrews Public School at Nepean Rugby Park.