Newby passes on his knowledge to Oakham's winning 1st XV

Published by Oakham School on Friday 7th of November 2014

Former All Black and Leicester Tigers player, Craig Newby, visited Oakham School this week to pass on a wealth of rugby knowledge and experience to Oakham's 1st XV.

During his career, Newby was recognised as a versatile back-rower, who captained the Tigers in 2011 and won a Commonwealth Games gold medal with the New Zealand Sevens. Oakham's Director of Rugby, Ian Smith, was delighted to welcome Craig back to the School. He said, 'Craig was a talented player and is now an excellent coach who really put took the boys through their paces. It was great to see him again as he was also a key part of our recent sports tour to South Africa.'

These extra coaching sessions should provide some additional skills to the 1st XV team in preparation for their Semi Final match against Milfield in the RFU U18 Champions Trophy. The Oakham players will be going into the match in a strong position thanks to their well earned win over the competition favourites, Epsom College. As well as ending Epsom's 17-match winning streak, Oakham's first team were even able watch their own match, as it had been steamed live from Doncaster Close by England Rugby.

Oakham is renowned for the quality of its rugby coaching led by Ian Smith: former England player, as well as player, captain and coach at the Tigers. Already this term students have benefited from coaching sessions with Brett Deacon and Tosh Askew, and are looking forward to a session with Austin Healey next week. Last season a variety of famous players visited Doncaster Close to pass on their skills, including Graham Rowntree, George Chuter, Geordan Murphy, Tom Croft and Matt Smith.