| After returning from the tour to Argentina with Gareth Jenkins's Wales squad, Jenkins and McBryde were ideally placed to pass on the skills used at the very top end of the international rugby scale to the youngsters who are on the first rungs of the ladder. The pair are already working with players in the four WRU regional Academies but this move gave the WRU's 23 development officers and junior age grade coaches working with younger players - aged 12 to 16 - the tools to prepare these youngsters for the high performance game.
Jenkins and McBryde, along with the Welsh Rugby Union's three other full time skills coaches Gruff Rees, Wayne Jones and Danny Wilson, took sessions on passing, tackling, kicking and defensive techniques, along with the scrum and line-out. WRU National Fitness Director Huw Wiltshire delivered a session on fitness and conditioning tailored to the needs of 12 to 16 year olds.
Leighton Morgan, WRU Elite Coach Development Manager said, "Our aim for what was a highly beneficial workshop was to highlight to our development officers and junior coaches the areas we would like them to work on with 12 to 16 year olds.
"We wanted to collectively achieve a better understanding of the requirements and focus that we need to bring to our early development work with junior association players and by doing so make it easier for them to move on to more advanced work as 17-year-olds when they reach the high performance end of the game.
"We also aimed to share as many ideas as possible and provide material for the development officers to take back to the community game."
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