England wrapped up the 2014 QBE Internationals this weekend with a win against Australia. Earlier in the series Ben Morgan, Danny Care and Dylan Hartley received a surprise visit from their formative rugby coaches who have been an integral part of helping them get to where they are today.

Organised by QBE, the Official Insurance Partner of England Rugby, the three players enjoyed a special trip down memory lane as they came face to face with their old rugby coaches Phil Sprague, Peter Latham and Dave Pass (respectively).

In anticipation of an unforgettable year of international rugby in 2015, the RFU has identified community rugby coaching as an area for growth ahead of an expected surge in popularity and participation in the game.

To ensure community rugby clubs have a suitable coaching infrastructure in place to engage and retain this influx of new players, QBE and the RFU created the QBE Coaching Club, an initiative designed to recruit and train 2,015 new level 2 coaches by 2015.

As the England trio prepare to embark on arguably the most important ten months of their professional rugby careers, the re-acquaintance with such influential coaching figures allowed them to reflect on the contribution their own formative rugby coaches made in their rise to international honours.

“Throughout my career, every coach that I have had from Dave, to Graham Smith at Worcester, to Dorian West now, they’re all the same bloke” said Hartley, who first met his school rugby coach when Dave’s son team was playing Hartley’s native New Zealand.

“They are all people that I respect and the reason why is that they’re honest, have a firm hand and always tell you what’s right and what’s wrong. I am very thankful for that.”

“Ever since we first met in New Zealand all those years ago, Dave believed in me and has been fundamental in making me the player and person I am today.”

“You want coaches who inspire you and want you to have fun,” added Care, who was being reunited with his Prince Henry Grammar School rugby coach, Peter Latham.

“The key thing for me was that it was fun going into training and Pete knew that he had a load of lads who wanted to have fun and enjoy it. For me, you have to enjoy what you’re doing to want to get better at it.”

“If I could be as inspiring, infectious and fun as Pete as a coach then I would be a happy man.”

“Good coaching is about getting a group of people to be able to do something as a team and he was very good at that,” concluded Morgan, who was reunited with his coach at Dursley RFC, Phil Sprague.

“Phil inspired me to take up rugby professionally. I have him to thank for everything in my rugby career.”

The QBE Coaching Club is set to contribute a 25% increase in the number of level 2 coaches across England, coaching over 50,000 players beyond 2015.

“The 2,015 for 2015 initiative is superb as without coaches at community level you haven’t got sides playing rugby on a Saturday and Sunday,” said Hartley’s coach, Pass. “It’s something that as rugby people we want to encourage in the hope that they take it further like Dylan did.”

“It’s such a great initiative as we want to find people like Pete,” added Care. “People who inspire young kids to get out there and throw a rugby ball around are invaluable to the game. Today’s really hit home about those people who have supported my success from such a young age. My family, Pete, other coaches; I owe them all an awful lot and it’s put into perspective how much they’ve taken me in my career.”

Latham, Pass and Sprague’s influence in nurturing and developing future rugby talents is admirable.

“From 14 to 15 years old he looked an incredibly promising prospect that was going to light up the game,” said Latham, who led Care’s 1st XV school team to the Under-18 Schools Vase at Twickenham Stadium. “I was just taken aback by Danny’s vibrancy, vision and competitiveness from scrum-half and as the years moved on from his late teens; he just went upwards and onwards.”

Pass, who brought Hartley to Beacon Community College as a 16 year old, added: “He had a sole determination to play for England. He came over from New Zealand to the rugby academy I ran and moved very quickly through the ranks to play England U18, U20, to Worcester and Northampton.”

“When he was about eight he was still quite a big lad for his age and very quick so we put him on the wing,” said Morgan’s coach at Dursley RFC, Phil Sprague. “As you can imagine, he was a try scoring machine so the rest of the team gave him the ball a lot. It was when he grew and lost a bit of pace that we moved him closer to the action, and it was then that we realised we had someone who could be very special.”