By Willie Whitesmith
April 19 2015

Kenilworth Rugby Club is proud to announce that one of their former Mini/Junior players, James Neal, has added to his England Counties U18 caps won last year, by being selected for the England Counties U20 squad to tour Hungary this summer.

The announcement of the squad comes after the Divisional Festival and assessment weekend at Welbeck Defence College. The tour falls in line with the England Counties tradition of touring developing nations – last year they toured Georgia. England will play a fixture against a Hungarian Barbarians side before taking on a Hungary u25s side.

James, Coventry born and Kenilworth adopted, played throughout the Mini & Junior years (7-16) at Kenilworth Rugby Club and finally moved to Rugby Lions to be part of their successful Colts team. During this time, James focussed on both athletics and judo to increase both his speed and his strength/technique and this has obviously paid dividends.

After James finished at Kenilworth School, he is now studying for a degree in physical education at Hartpury College, a sporting centre of excellence which has produced a string of internationals and whose senior side currently sit in National League 1.

Forever humble, James is very proud of his rugby roots at Kenilworth RFC and kindly donated his framed England jersey to the club where his career first started. Ex-Head Coach Steve Sutherland, who coached James during his time at Kenilworth, stated “James is an exceptional talent, always trains hard and is hugely attentive, always willing to listen and learn. He deserves this success and recognition, simply because of all the hard work he has put in to improve himself. It certainly proves that hard work pays off! We wish James every success on this tour and will watch his progress with interest. It also proves that local rugby clubs like Kenilworth RFC can be the springboard to success for all aspiring young players”.

Also in the squad is Freddie Mills of Coventry University who played with Kenilworth last season.