Whitland Junior Borderers RFC made Rhod Gilbert honorary vice-president of the club after the TV comedian took on a coaching assignment with their Under-8s side culminating in a rugby festival appearance at Parc Dr Owen this weekend.

Filming for an episode of his BAFTA Cymru nominated show ‘Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience’ the Carmarthen-born star was put through his paces on a WRU accredited Level 1 coaching course earlier this month, before taking over at the helm of the Borderer’s junior side to test his newfound knowledge.

Gilbert also trained with the WRU Women’s national side at the National Centre of Excellence to sample coaching at the elite end of the game, before getting down to grass-roots in West Wales.

He has been taking regular training sessions with the U8s on Friday nights at Parc Dr Owen in preparation for the season opening festival hosted at the club, which was held on Sunday morning.

The squad - Freddie Davies, Llyr Davies, Sophie Jones, George Nelson, Cian Rees, Joseph Rimmer, Sophia Rozhan, Lukas Saer, Eolas Singh and Ryan Smith, took on sides from Loughor, Llangwm, Milford and St Davids at the invitation tournament.

“In TV, there’s an old saying...’never work with children or animals’, but in my experience, that’s always the most fun, and the Whitland kids were no exception...natural TV stars, all of them,” said Rhod.

“The children have been hilarious, and the experience of coaching at this level of the game is one which I’ve found to be particularly rewarding".

“You don’t necessarily realise all the hard work that goes into a weekend festival like the one in Whitland, with up to fifteen visiting teams from around the area across all the junior age groups.

“The coaches and managers at Whitland and the many other clubs throughout Wales are all volunteers and they give up their time for the love of the game and so the kids can play.

“I have found the whole experience to be exhilarating, not without its challenges, but ultimately, very, very rewarding,” he added.

‘Rhod Gilberts Work Experience’ will be shown on BBC 2 in February 2016, full schedule information to be confirmed.