Latest news with #YorkKnights
Wales Online
11-08-2025
- Sport
- Wales Online
Tonight's rugby news as Wales wing nears exit from sport and Lions star's rise continues
Tonight's rugby news as Wales wing nears exit from sport and Lions star's rise continues The latest rugby news and headlines from Wales and beyond Grace is mobbed after scoring a try on his Wales debut (Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency) Here are your rugby evening headlines for Monday, August 11. Wales star nearing rugby league return Wales wing Regan Grace is nearing a return to rugby league, with ambitious Championship outfit York Knights leading the chase for the 28-year-old. Reports suggest the Port Talbot product, who was released by Cardiff at the end of last season, has been actively pursuing a return to the 13-a-side code in recent weeks. All Out Rugby League are reporting that Grace has been made available to Championship clubs, including league leaders Knights - who are in the midst of a high-profile recruitment drive as they bid to reach Super League. Warrington Wolves prop Paul Vaughan has already signed, with York Knights head coach Mark Applegarth saying recently they are "an ambitious club", although there was nothing official to add on Grace. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. Grace had admitted back in April that he was exploring his options, with a return to league certainly an option. The wing had made his name with St Helens, before switching codes to try his hand at rugby union. Injury stopped him making an appearance for Racing 92, before short spells with Bath and Cardiff. Article continues below He did tour Australia last summer with Wales, featuring in the uncapped match against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane. England star's rapid rise continues England back-row Henry Pollock has been named as one of the 25 players to gain an Enhanced Elite Player Squad contract for the 2025/26 season. The British and Irish Lions tourist, who was first capped by England earlier this year, has enjoyed a rapid rise. As such, he's been rewarded with one of the special deals, which provide a guaranteed annual salary in place of match fees. Flanker Ben Curry is another of the new additions, joining his brother Tom, while Tom Willis has also been included. Others to get a central contract who missed out when the first batch were handed out last October include Fin Baxter, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Elliot Daly, Joe Heyes, Tom Roebuck and Will Stuart. Saracens hooker Theo Dan is the only player out of the original 17 to miss out. 'I am pleased to name the players who will receive an enhanced EPS contract this season,' said England head coach Steve Borthwick. 'These contracts, together with our strong relationship with the Premiership clubs, will continue to play an important role in the ongoing development of England Rugby.' Welsh rugby game moved The Scarlets' second match of the United Rugby Championship season has been shifted back a day due to stadium redevelopments in Galway. Dwayne Peel's side start their season at home to Munster on September 27 before travelling to Ireland the following week to take on Connacht. Initially, that was scheduled to be played on Friday October 3. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here. However, with Connacht's Dexcom Stadium being redeveloped, the match will instead take place on Saturday, October 4 at 1.45pm. The reason for the move is to "support on-going work at the venue and provide the best possible experience for fans of both teams attending the game". Springboks explain surprise selection Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus has revealed his thinking behind putting captain Siya Kolisi at No. 8 for Saturday's Rugby Championship clash with Australia. The two-time World Cup-winning skipper will start in the unfamiliar position for South Africa - although he does play a lot of his domestic rugby for the Sharks at the back of the scrum. With Jasper Wiese, Cameron Hanekom and Elrigh Louw all suspended or injured, Erasmus has turned to Kolisi to fill in against the Wallabies - with the selection allowing him to target Joe Schmidt's side. Join WalesOnline Rugby's WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free 'We actually changed our mind there," said Erasmus. "The more we practise and prepare we realise that the only position the guy already plays at eight is at scrums. Article continues below "Scrums is probably a thing that happens 13 or 14 times in a game,' said Erasmus at the team announcement in Sandton on Monday. 'But general play is probably the thing that happens the most when we're having a guy like Pieter-Steph [Du Toit] and Marco [Van Staden] and Siya on the field at the same time. We really feel Australia is a big threat at the breakdown. They really bind hard at the breakdown and all three of those guys are really good.'
BBC News
25-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Warrington forward Vaughan moves to York for 2026
Warrington Wolves forward Paul Vaughan will move to Championship side York Knights for the 2026 34-year-old Australian moved to Warrington in 2023 and played in their Challenge Cup final defeats in both 2024 and 2025."Joining the Knights represents a new challenge in a different way for me," Vaughan said."I bring a wealth of leadership to the club and I'm looking forward to linking up with the group, connecting with the fans, and being part of what's building at York."Before moving to England, Vaughan played for Canberra Raiders, St George Illawarra and Canterbury Bulldogs in Australia's National Rugby League (NRL)."He's still one of the best props in Super League," said York head coach Mark Applegarth."It's a real statement signing made by the club. As a coach, I'm looking forward to getting a real genuine leader of the pack."York are top of the Championship table and have never played in Super the traditional system of promotion and relegation was scrapped two years ago, with a grading method now in place to determine the make-up of the top gradings are reviewed every year and in 2024, York chair Clint Goodchild said they were hopeful of gradually improving their 15th-placed rating.
BBC News
07-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
York pip Featherstone in extra time to win 1895 Cup
1895 Cup final, Wembley StadiumFeatherstone (2) 4Goals: Reynolds 2York (4) 5Goals: Harris 2 Drop-goal: HarrisMatch ended 4-4 after 80 minutes York Knights lifted the 1895 Cup for the first time as they edged Championship rivals Featherstone Rovers in golden-point extra time at Harris slotted a 35-metre drop-goal in the fifth minute of added time to spark celebrations after a tryless 80 minutes had ended level at aiming to become the first side to win the 1895 Cup for a second time by following-up their win in 2021 against York, started well and hit the front with a 12th-minute penalty from scrum-half Ben as errors crept into Rovers' game, York took control of a physical first half, levelling through the boot of Harris before the scrum-half kicked a long-range second penalty as the hooter blew for half-time. Harris was stopped just short as York restarted well, but Featherstone responded, with Clay Webb denied by Toa Mata'afa's try-saving tackle before Reynolds' second penalty levelled the scores on the back-row Oli Field was brought down a few metres short of the line and Featherstone wasted a late drop-goal opportunity as nerves and fatigue sides missed drop-goal attempts in extra time through Harris and Ryan Hampshire, before the former found the target to clinch a tense Aekins, Olpherts, Hardcastle, Gale, Wynne, Reynolds, Hampshire, Springer, Jubb, Beckett, Day, Webb, Jones, Williams, Vuniyayawa, Mata'afa, Brown, Buchanan, Field, Galeano, Hingano, Harris, Martin, McShane, Ta'ai, Dee, Bailey, Cook, Santi, Gannon, Liam Rush.
BBC News
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Harris backs Knights to put on a show at Wembley
Winger Liam Harris said York Knights can show they are "a Super League side in the making" with victory in the 1895 Cup at Wembley Stadium on Saturday (17:45 BST).The North Yorkshire outfit will battle it out with fellow Championship side Featherstone Rovers for the second- and third-tier knockout trophy after the Challenge Cup final between Warrington Wolves and Hull while Harris expects that plenty of fans will not stay to watch the aftershow to the main event, he said they should if they want to see a top-flight side of the future."Outside looking in, people probably turn their nose up at this competition," Harris told BBC Radio York."It is played after the [main] game and all the fans have left and all that sort of stuff, but to us, looking at it internally, it is the only knockout competition we can win so to us it's everything."That is what is on offer and we'll go for it. If and when we get the job done on the weekend it is a fair step in a positive direction for the club, and that's very important to us as well."I believe York is a Super League club in the making and it's only a matter of time [before we become one]."York Knights have spent the last six and a half seasons in the second-tier Championship, finishing fourth, sixth and sixth in the past three currently sit in fourth place in the table, four places and four points ahead of Saturday's opponents Featherstone Rovers, who are eighth.
BBC News
07-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Castleford Tigers player's high hopes for crowd-funded wheelchair
A wheelchair rugby player has said he has "all the confidence in the world" about winning this season's tournament after getting a custom-made chair thanks to crowd-funded donations and an anonymous Murphy, 32, who recently joined Castleford Tigers after previously playing for York Knights, has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which causes his joints to dislocate very easily. Mr Murphy, from York, said he used to play in a chair that was too wide, meaning he regularly suffered bruises and dislocations to his hips while playing. But he said that since he started using his new chair, people had told him "how much faster I am, how nimble I am - it's changed my game completely". "It feels so comfortable and I'm not moving about like I was in my last chair. I'm strapped in properly," he said. Mr Murphy said he had needed to replace his previous wheelchair as it had been "very old and falling apart".He was able to have his new chair made after raising £2,500 of the £5,000 required, before then receiving a further £2,500 donation from a listener who had heard his story on BBC Radio York. Mr Murphy said: "Never in my life have I had someone be so generous."It just meant the world that he thought enough about what I could do to fund that money for me to get this new chair." Mr Murphy told BBC Radio York that playing rugby had given him a "reason to get up in the morning" after struggling since adolescence with his mental health."When I'm on the pitch it just makes me forget about the sad stuff," he said."You feel like a completely different human being."Of Castleford Tigers' Wheelchair RL Team's upcoming season, which is due to start on Saturday with a match against his old team York Knights, Mr Murphy said: "I have all the confidence in the world now I have this wheelchair." Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
