THE five York lads on Featherstone Rovers’ under-16s scholarship have been playing their part – on and off the pitch – in making the Championship club a competitive outfit even when coming up against their counterparts from Super League clubs.

Rovers U16s beat Championship rivals Sheffield Eagles 62-24 in their opening match, before losing 20-14 in a close fought contest against Super League outfit Salford City Reds and coming close to an eye-catching victory against Leeds Rhinos, before going down 34-26.

Upcoming matches are against Super League duo Crusaders and Huddersfield Giants and Widnes, who join the top tier as of next season, and the York-based quintet – all products of York City Knights’ scholarship programme – are looking to show they can compete at that level.

Off the pitch, they have done their bit too. Each player was asked to obtain sponsorship of £50 for this year’s scholarship programme, and they did so thanks to local York businesses.

The five lads, with their sponsors in brackets, are Joe Deighton (Yorkshire Curtain Siders), Jordan Myers (MGA Joinery), Jack Byrnes (Dunning Plant Hire), Josh Poulter (Jewson York) and Jordan Potter (Atlanta Gym York & Robert Bowett Motoring Leeds). They have also thanked Mark Dunning, of Dunning Plant Hire, for providing the squad with post-match polo shirts and sponsoring the scholarship man-of-the-match award.

As reported by The Press earlier this year, the Knights were forced to end their own scholarship programme as a change in Rugby Football League rules meant clubs could only run such schemes if they had an U18s academy too.

The Knights, like many clubs of similar standing, could not afford to do so given the associated costs of the latter. Indeed, Rovers, Sheffield and Widnes were the only clubs outside of Super League to keep their scholarships.

The Knights’ player pathway from junior rugby league instead now comprises work with the North Yorkshire Service Area (which coaches the next best players after official scholarships have taken the professed cream of the crop) and the Rugby League Development Centre at York College, as well as a new “extended scholarship” for U16s which works alongside amateur clubs’ junior teams.

They are also looking to create a development squad for U13s to U16s – which acts like a scholarship but without being allowed to play matches.

That said, the National Conference League’s impending switch from winter to summer rugby means it is now a bit unclear how Service Areas will work alongside these amateur clubs’ junior teams.