Former England rugby sevens captain Ollie Phillips joined forces with Brazil captain Fernando Portugal and the Rio 2016 Organising Committee to bring rugby to Rio’s Flamengo Beach on Wednesday. Phillips, who is in Rio on the first stop of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, helped give a rugby lesson to 40 children from a school in the same neighbourhood that will host the Olympic rugby sevens tournament in 2016.

The 2009 IRB World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year said: “Rugby has given a lot to me and this is an opportunity for me to give something back. On days like today, when you see the animation on the kids’ faces, it makes it worthwhile.”

The full version of rugby (15-a-side) was played at four Olympic Games between 1900 and 1924, but rugby sevens (7-a-side) will make its Olympic debut at Rio 2016. Asked about the importance of rugby returning to the Olympic programme, Phillips said: “It’s enormous. It will catapult the sport to a totally different stratosphere.

“Sevens is fast, fun and has a carnival atmosphere – it fits well with Brazilian culture. I’ve only been in Rio three days and I have already fallen in love with the city. It has the potential to be an absolutely fabulous Games.”

Phillips and Portugal teamed up with members of Rio Rugby, a social project that teaches rugby in the Rocinha ‘favela’ community, to put the children through their paces on the sand. The youngsters, from the Guimarães Rosa city school in the Deodoro neighbourhood, also had the chance to go aboard the Great Britain yacht on which Phillips and his fellow crew members had arrived in Rio on Monday.

Vinícius Souza, aged 12, said: “I didn’t even know that rugby existed before. It’s really different to football and handball because you can’t throw the ball forwards – only behind or sideways. It’s really cool. And it was the first time I’d been on a yacht – it was so beautiful.”

Rio 2016’s Head of Education, Mariana Behr, said: “We are trying to use the Olympic and Paralympic values to really improve children’s lives, to help them be the best they can. One of our aims is to give kids the chance to try new sports and today is the perfect example of that.”

Phillips and his crew will continue on the Clipper Round the World Race on Saturday, when they set sail for Cape Town, South Africa. The 31-year-old, who is recovering from a calf injury, will continue to give rugby sevens classes at different stop-off points along the way. However, he is determined to return to Rio in 2016 to end his career by becoming an Olympian.

“I’m recovering relatively well and I will give myself the best opportunity to make it,” he said. “I would love to end my career in one of the best cities I have ever visited. To come back and try and win a gold medal here would be unbelievable. If that happens, you’ll see a few samba moves from me.”