Blog | Comment | Decent Debuts: Have your say

Dave Parkinson

As far as debuts go at Castleford the last two players have been pretty spectacular.

Following on from Jake Trueman’s hat-trick heroics at Wigan last wee,k it was the turn of Tuoyo Egodo to light up an otherwise forgettable game for Castleford fans (taking nothing away from Hull who won handsomely!). For Egodo, who has also spent time in Championship and League One this season with Oldham and York respectively, he stepped onto that right wing and came away with three tries of his own.

Egodo joined Castleford at the end of last season having played his rugby in the South of England with London Broncos and Hemel Stags while Trueman had been pitting his wits at Academy level for Bradford Bulls.

It got me thinking about players that really made a difference on debut.

As a long standing Leigh fan I have a few memories. One that I touched upon in Love Rugby League Weekly #9 was that of Paul Rowley as a 17 year old against Wakefield Trinity. It was 7th February 1993 at Hilton Park and Rowley came from the bench to produce what became his trademark. A sniping run from dummy half saw Paul scamper downfield. He then showed great poise to send Duncan Platt over the line for a crucial try. Leigh won the game 17-10.

Another good memory came earlier that season when Scott Martin and Simon Baldwin were given their debuts by Leigh’s Australian coach Steve Simms. It came against Leeds who had the likes of Kevin Iro and John Gallagher in their ranks. Again at Hilton Park, on 22nd November 1992, the game ended in a 12-all draw with Baldwin scoring one of Leigh’s two tries.

One of the more spectacular Leigh debuts came a few years earlier, September 1989, when former Castleford halfback Bob Beardmore swept over for four tries against Barrow.

Still with Leigh and Jamie Durbin claimed a hat-trick for the Centurions when he was one of six players on debut against London Skolars in February 2009. Leigh won 74-6 in the first non-friendly at Leigh Sports Village.

From a wider Rugby League perspective when Sam Tomkins debuted for Wigan in May 2008, fans knew they were seeing the start of a good career. It was a Challenge Cup game and not only did Wigan win 106-8 against Whitehaven, a then 19-year-old Tomkins scored five tries.

This year Ben Pomeroy had a good debut for Warrington, scoring a try and creating one against Leigh. I also saw Jarrod Sammut pulling the strings for London Broncos when they edged Swinton on the opening day of the Championship.

It produced a little bit of discussion on the comments section of the show on Facebook.

Ryan said: Justin Poore, he started on Boxing Day against Leeds. It was a great start, he flattened Ryan Bailey inside 20 minutes and got sent off for it! How to become a cult hero in 20 minutes!

Stuart recalled: Rob Smyth scoring 4 tries for Warrington v Huddersfield in a losing team.

And Michael added: Gavin Miller, an unknown for Hull Kingston Rovers who then became an Australian international.

What debuts stood out for you and why? I’d love to read more. Feel free to comment either here or on our Facebook page and who knows, we could start a series!