Lower Mid North Coast Junior Rugby president, Aaron Dodds, said the appearance of Morgan Turinui, Rod Davies and James Holbeck at the final Get Into Rugby session at Nabiac on Friday, August 7 provided a sensational learning experience for the children who took part in the program.

With numbers down as a result of COVID-19, Mr Dodds said the 40 kids who attended really benefitted from the hands-on training they received from the former stars.

"It was a very close, intimate training session," he said.

"The kids were very, very excited."

It won't be the only interaction between the mentors and junior rugby players in the region, with Mr Dodds confirming the three former internationals had committed to attending the program for the next three years.

In addition, Turinui, Davies and Holbeck will join current rugby star Lachie Miller to help coach the Lower Mid North Coast junior team at the Coffs Coast Rugby Challenge in late September.

Mr Dodds said the mentors were very impressed with some of the talent on hand at the session and he believed there were a number of future representative players in their midst.

"There are some very talented rugby players there," Mr Dodds said.

And while the pandemic had led to a reduction in participants in the Get Into Rugby program since it resumed in July, Mr Dodds believed junior rugby was in the healthiest state it had been in across the region for some time.

"With what we've got going and what we've got planned, there'll be a lot of growth going forward," he said.