Our Coach Graham Smith was recently nominated to attend a recognition lunch at Twickenham by Sam Carpenter and Stewart Cameron.
He travelled down to London on 5th Feb and stayed at the very swish Lensbury Hotel courtesy of the RFU. That night he met Wayne Barnes and Matt Carley and was able to watch the Red Roses arriving for training.
He was one of only 4 coaches from the whole of England to have been invited this session so it was a very special day.
A champagne reception was followed by a 4 course lunch with short speeches by Chris Kelly (RFU President) Nigel Melville (RFU CEO) Keith Kent (Twickenham Groundsman) and Rob Lindley (MD,Mitsubishi UK).
Graham was lucky enough to be on the top table and sat next to England Rugby CEO Nigel Melville who asked him about his thoughts on reducing and managing concussion,and promoting Youth Rugby (Swaffham was obviously mentioned). Nigel then shared some amusing anecdotes from his days as a player in the 1980's.
Following the reception they were then treated to a tour of Twickenham which included the changing rooms, royal box, and pitch side.
A few photos of his day can be found HERE