Teenager appointed South Wales captain

Teenage hooker Connor Farrer has been named South Wales Scorpions’ new club captain.

Farrer, 19, made his first team debut in 2012 at the age of 17 years and four days, and has gone on to make 37 appearances for the club.

Hailing from Pontypridd, Farrer has been the epitome of the Rugby League development system in South Wales. Playing for Pontypridd Panthers as a 14-year old, he was snapped up by Celtic Crusaders and played in their under 15 side in 2010.

Year by year he graduated up the ranks. From Celtic Crusaders under 16s to Scorpions under 18s, where still aged 16 he scored a hat-trick of tries away at Featherstone Rovers for this side. He also played for the Scorpions under 20s side early in 2013.

Internationally he made his full Wales debut last autumn after playing for Wales at under 16, 18, Dragonhearts and Students level.

He said: “I’m honoured to have been named South Wales Scorpions’ captain for the 2015 season and I’d like to thank Mike and the coaching staff for appointing me. I’ll certainly be giving my all to the role.” 

Scorpions coach Mike Grady said: “Connor’s confidence has grown so much over the last year and even more in this pre-season. He is now one of the more experienced players in the group. 

“He leads by example, never misses a training session, trains hard, plays hard, tackles well above his weight and gets rave reviews week in week out. We’ll have a leadership group in place to assist Connor and of course I’ve also got our assistant coach Paul Emanuelli on the field who again is a natural leader.

“All the players support this appointment and we can’t wait to see what the season will bring.”

Photo credit: Ian Lovell