Billy Twelvetrees enjoyed the training session every bit as much as the youngsters who play for Hucclewick Under-12s.

Twelvetrees was at Hucclecote Rugby Club last night along with his Gloucester team-mates Ben Morgan and Tom Savage to coach the award-winning team who were formed only after the start of the season.

They are made up of players from two clubs, Hucclecote and Painswick – hence their name Hucclewick – and so successful have they been since joining forces that they were voted one of 12 winners of a nationwide competition launched by Gallagher, the title partner of Premiership Rugby.

Their prize was a coaching session with three Gloucester stars and for Twelvetrees, last night brought back many happy childhood memories.

Born in Chichester and raised in West Sussex, Twelvetrees remembers his very first steps on the rugby ladder before going on to play for Leicester, Gloucester and England and earn a call-up as a replacement for the British and Irish Lions.

“I started playing rugby when I was under five and under six and went all the way through to the under-15s and under-16s, so I know how important grassroots rugby is,” he said.

“It was so important for my development. Sometimes when we started there’d only be five people there but then a few more would come along and we’d field a team and start playing competitively.”

Twelvetrees, of course, was one of the few who went on make it in the professional game but one of the great things about rugby is that it is a sport that can be enjoyed by players of all abilities.

“I remember when I was 11 or 12, watching rugby, wanting to play rugby every weekend,” Twelvetrees, a fly-half or centre, continued.

“It’s the same with the youngsters here now, everyone is smiling. All you want to do at that age is get the ball in your hands and run with it.”

Twelvetrees, now 30, has been playing top level rugby for more than a decade – he’s been capped 19 times by England – but his passion for the sport has certainly not diminished.

“I’ve got a huge interest in rugby, I love the game and I love helping out the youngsters,” he said.

And that enthusiasm for all things rugby certainly rubbed off on the youngsters at Hucclewick.

“All three of the Gloucester boys were really good,” said Hucclecote chairman Nigel Matthews. “I think they enjoyed it as much as the kids.

“They were really good with them and gave them some good coaching – running the right lines, handling skills, that sort of thing.

“They were really enthusiastic, they talked to the boys, laughed with the boys. They interacted with them and spoke to the parents. They certainly didn’t go through the motions, it was all good.”

Gallagher’s Train with Your Heroes competition was run over a three-week period in November and encouraged people to nominate their community rugby club or team by showing how it embodies the spirit and values of rugby both on and off the pitch.

Hucclewick Under-12s, who were one of 12 winners nationwide, were nominated by parent Denise Darlow-Joy – her son Stephen plays for them – “for their commitment, inclusivity, passion, energy and perseverance in overcoming adversity and embracing their merged team ‘Hucclewick’ in order to ensure they can always field enough players.”