ENGLAND rugby world cup winner Jason Leonard OBE paid a visit to Farnham Heath End School (FHES) to find out more about the school’s quest to inspire the next generation of rugby talent.

The current president of the Rugby Football Union spent a few hours meeting the school’s 11 and 12-year-old students and watching them take part in an O2 Rugby Touch Festival.

Jason came through the state-school system and is passionate about developing rugby in this sector. This is a view that is shared by FHES’s lead teacher of PE, Peter Hyland, he said: “We are very proud to have been chosen as just one of 16 O2 Touch Pilot schools in the country.

“By using the non-contact version of the game, we hope to engage even more students in this fantastic activity. We hosted a rugby festival for our year seven students to launch our involvement in the O2 Touch programme.

“Touch rugby is a minimal contact sport that emphasises running, agility and ball-handling skills. Over 200 students including referees from the FHES Leadership Academy took part in the festival and they had a great time. The students were put into mixed gender and mixed ability teams and the emphasis was very much on having a fun and friendly competition.

“The event was a fantastic occasion and was made even more special by Jason Leonard attending and presenting awards to those students that most demonstrated teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship. He even passed around his World ‘s medal.”

Sport director Hayley Kemp, said: “Rugby is a unique sport which can play a beneficial role in the lives of all students, regardless of age or ability, both at school and in their home life. The students have really engaged with rugby in both PE lessons and enrichment activities.

“We have been extremely impressed with their commitment and performance levels. Jason Leonard’s visit was in response to the fantastic work Team PE have done to develop both contact and touch rugby at the school.”

Anyone interested in playing touch rugby can do so on Wednesday evenings at Farnham Rugby club.