Laaities tussle with Bok Julian Redelinghuys at Diggers rugby clinic
PRAEGVILLE – Springbok prop Julian Redelinghuys visits the Diggers Juniors Rugby Club.
Budding rugby players had a chance to be coached by Springbok prop Julian Redelinghuys at the Diggers Juniors Rugby Club.
The club’s annual Open Day held at the club in Praegville on 27 May, featured its normal basic skills training and introducing the community to the club.
READ: Junior Diggers opens doors to new talent
But something new, available to players for a fee, was a separate event – a specialised clinic with rugby store, World of Rugby.
The rugby store invited Redelinghuys, and also former Lions players Ethienne Reynecke and Pieter Meyer, among other coaches.
Youngsters practised scrums, line-outs, running lines, passing, tackling and basic plays with these rugby veterans, absorbing every nugget of experience and instruction they could.
Redelinghuys suffered a freak injury last year that lead to a fractured neck disc, and he is still on a long road to recovery. But this did not stop him from lifting players for line-outs.
“This is where it all starts, this is where they learn to enjoy rugby,” said Redelinghuys, referring to the age of the players. “It is all about the fun [of playing rugby]. Somewhere along the line some people lose that fun and rugby becomes a job, but we must make sure that does not happen.”
Diggers Juniors coach, Alan Baddeley, explained the Open Day was for basic skills training and raising awareness about the club.
“We are letting people know there is a rugby club here in Randburg. It is not just school rugby, parents can bring their children here to learn and develop,” he said.
