Cardiff Blues went back to school this week ahead of the inaugural World Club 10s in Singapore - as they took time out of training to give local schoolchildren in South East Asia a rugby masterclass.
Blues have this week been training at the Anglo Chinese School (Independent) in Singapore ahead of the tournament at the new 55,000 capacity national stadium.
The school, founded in 1886 and an independent school under the Ministry of Education in Singapore and an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, has formed the perfect backdrop for Blues who have been able to use the impressive training field, swimming pool and gym facilities.
And as a thank you to the school, the Blues stars ran a rugby masterclass on Wednesday afternoon as Paul John and Dale McIntosh took children on a special training session.
The Blues players then got involved for over an hour in humid conditions as they took specialist classes from scrum half to flanker lessons and from fly half to hooker sessions to pass on words of wisdom and training drills to the youngsters.
Blues take part in the World Club 10s this weekend, but Rugby Operations Manager, Gafyn Cooper, insisted the team were only too pleased to thank the school for their kind generosity.
“The Anglo Chinese School have been fantastic by allowing us to use their facilities this week as we acclimatise to the hot and humid weather and prepare as best as we possibly can for the World Club 10s this weekend,” he said.
“The venue has been perfect for us and we are thankful to Rhys Jones, a proud Welshman who heads up the rugby department, and the school for allowing us to use the great facilities they boost this week.
“The players have really enjoyed the environment and were delighted to be able to give something back at the end of training in Wednesday afternoon.
"We trained with over 30 children in the afternoon heat and hope they all enjoyed the experience the squad were able to give them with specialist lessons on different positions.
“We also presented all the schoolchildren involved with boot bags from the Cardiff Blues as a memento of our visit and we hope to see many of them in the stadium this weekend in the World Club 10s.”