Catholic rugby player Fergus Mulchrone has returned to his old school to tell the next generation of rugby hopefuls of life in the professional ranks.

Mr Mulchrone, 23, plays centre for New Sale Sharks and was a pupil at St Ambrose College in Cheshire, a school founded by the Christian Brothers.

Described as a model for young rugby players by Kingsley Black, the Sale Sharks director of rugby, Mr Mulchrone, from Moor Lane, Wilmslow, told an appreciative audience of his unusual path to the top.

“After leaving school, I took a year out to go travelling and then took a marketing degree at Manchester Metropolitan University. I joined Macclesfield Rugby Club and just kept applying myself until I was spotted.”