FORMER England international Neil Back believes East Lancashire can continue to produce world class rugby players after taking a coaching session at Burnley.

The 46-year-old coached alongside Chris Pickles, 19, at the Holden Road club.

Pickles, who looks after Burnley’s Under-12s, was one of four coaches across the country to be honoured by the QBE My Coach programme, which recognises coaches who have inspired and supported players in grassroots rugby.

He began coaching at 17 after suffering a knee injury playing for one of Burnley’s senior teams, and although he is now back playing he is determined to carry on with the coaching and recently completed his Level 2 qualification as part of the QBE scheme.

“I couldn’t believe it when I found out,” said Pickles. “You don’t expect to have one of your heroes coming to coach alongside you.

“He taught the players and I picked up a few tips along the way.”

Flanker Back won 66 caps for England, playing in the 2003 World Cup final win over Australia.

And he believes young coaches like Pickles, who was nominated for the award by Burnley’s 1st XV coach Simon Finnan, are vital to the future of English rugby.

“As the World Cup showed we need to have a change of thinking, particularly in our attack philosophy, so if young coaches can inspire young kids about catching and passing and develop those skills from a very early age with the offloading and support play that will benefit England in the future,” he explained.

“There is a skill to coaching, it’s about engaging with the children. The big trick is to keep them wanting to come back, so you’ve got to keep it fun and challenging.”

Burnley have over 150 players in their junior ranks and Back believes clubs like the Lancashire (North) outfit are a crucial barometer of the game’s health in England.

“They’re massively important,” he said.

“Many of England’s future stars will be playing at clubs like Burnley.”

Despite being predominantly in a football heartland, East Lancashire has produced its fair share of Rugby Union stars, with Blackburn-born duo Will Greenwood and Iain Balshaw, and Chorley’s Paul Grayson, all in the 2003 World Cup-winning squad in Australia alongside Back.

And Back, who played most of his club rugby for Leicester Tigers in a success-laden 15-year spell at Welford Road alongside the likes of Martin Johnson, believes the area can churn out more future internationals.

“Even in the small group of just over 20 boys there was one or two in particular who had a bit of X factor and had something about them,” he said. “Who knows, Chris might be a Premiership coach of the future as well.”

Despite now playing again after a year out through his injury, Pickles continues to train his youngsters once a week before taking them for their game.

Pickles, who has been involved with Burnley since he was seven, said: “I love coaching and I can take some aspect from the training I do as a senior player into coaching the juniors.

“The QBE award was a great help because I got a coaching course as one of the prizes, so that put me up another step on the ladder.”