England RU team give lesson youngsters will never forget in York as game gets serious about concussion and participation

Danny Care defying his 37-year-old legs to bomb forward in support of Freddie Steward.

Kevin Sinfield directing an attacking move among England’s backs and the speed at which they executed it.

Jamie George conducting a lineout drill among his forward pack.

And all for just £1. No wonder there were 8,000 tickets sold for England’s open training session in York, the national team’s first venture to these parts since the days of Stuart Lancaster hosting similar sessions in Leeds a decade ago.

Jerseys, scarves and bobble hats from a wide spectrum of Yorkshire’s clubs were seen in the stands, but it was an extra special day for Cleckheaton Rugby Club, who were invited by the Rugby Football Union to nominate four of their junior members to act as ball boys and ball girls.

Pretty much all of the 250 members of Cleckheaton’s junior section applied, and 140 club members, 80 kids and 60 parents, descended on York to enjoy the morning.

“What a fantastic thing to happen to our club. Just a fantastic day out,” John Porritt, club secretary of Cleckheaton and a junior coach, told The Yorkshire Post.

“Hopefully they’ve been watching and have seen some of the skills on show.

“But the main thing is it’s great to see their England heroes up close and personal. They only really see them on the TV.

“For them to come up to Yorkshire from Twickenham is absolutely fantastic.”

What was refreshing to see was the number of girls in the crowd.

Women’s sport is booming and rugby union is playing its part in that cultural explosion.

The Red Roses team that includes local players like Morwenna Talling who went to Ryedale School and Zoe Aldcroft of Scarborough have been instrumental in the growth in interest.

Next autumn, this very same stadium in York is one of eight venues across the country that will host matches in the Women’s Rugby World Cup.

“A lot of what we’re seeing today could be applied to any age group, it’s the speed and intensity,” says Hannah Curley, Cleckheaton’s junior chair, whose daughter was the first girl registered to play at the club nearly a decade ago.

Now they have 70 playing across four teams.

“We’ve got representatives with Yorkshire and now one at England Under-18s so we’ve had a really good time with it.”

Getting more girls involved in the game is a big drive of the RFU.

Their national player pathway manager is Mark Saltmarsh, a name that might be familiar in Yorkshire union circles. He played for his hometown club Huddersfield for many years and has just started playing again with his son at their club in the Midlands.

“With the World Cup coming next year in eight venues across the country, girls rugby is a real focus for us because the demand is huge on the back of the success of the Red Roses, and the Lionesses as well.

“We’ve got to make sure we play our part in giving them a chance to play.

"And it’s having a positive effect on the whole game, making it more accessible and more inclusive.

“As sports, we’re all in competition, but we work closely with other sports, particularly when we know the alternatives are kids sitting on the settee - so we’re all in it together.

“We encourage kids to play other sports, it breeds all-round skills.

“The good thing about rugby union is it’s for all shapes and sizes, there is a place for anyone and we’ve found that especially in girls rugby.”

Overall, the amount of children, boys and girls, signing up to play union remains strong.

“At the moment we’re in a very good growth phase, post-Covid, which I think most sports are finding,” reports Saltmarsh.

“This season we’ve got 170,000 kids registered in clubs across the country, which is the most we’ve had since we started registering kids.

“There are challenges in the game but kids are still wanting to play.”

The big challenge is safety, primarily head injuries and the amount of ex-players who are now turning against the game and warning people of its dangers.

It has prompted a response from the RFU.

“We understand that concern,” says Saltmarsh. “Our No 1 priority is safety, player welfare, even more than ever.

“In the age-grade game we really focus on training coaches and teachers, a lot of them are volunteers and parents, so it’s about giving them as much support as we can.

“We’re starting the second phase of our school training programme this summer, where we should train another 1,000 teachers, having trained 500 for each of the last two years.

“We’re trying to give them, not just the skills, but the confidence so that they’re able to engage parents better and say this is what we do, this is how we do it.

“We’re not saying there isn’t a risk to playing contact sport, but there are real benefits as well. We’ve got an obesity crisis, all sports need to get together.

“There’s all the self-esteem benefits of team sport, the sense of belonging. Our message is we’re not complacent, there are some really good things about the game and we’ll make sure everyone is the best they can be.”

That message is filtering down to the grassroots.

Hannah Curley of Cleckheaton concludes: “Absolutely safety is paramount,” she says. “I think it’s a good way to start, getting the grassroots knowledgeable, that’s at the front of our mind all the way through.

"We’ve looked at the tackle height laws and the kids have adjusted to it really well, particularly the younger ones who that’s all they’re ever going to know.

“The older ones who were a bit dubious are coming around to it now as well.”

And with that, attention turns back to the field and the dark red shirts of the England players doing their drills.

Ireland await England at Twickenham next Saturday, but perhaps a more important statement was made by this England team in North Yorkshire on Friday morning.