HEWORTH ARLFC head coach Scott Rhodes is delighted that four of his former players have been given the opportunity to shine for York Knights in the Betfred Championship so far this season.

A quartet of former Heworth youngsters started for Andrew Henderson's Knights' against one of the Championship's promotion favourites, Toulouse Olympique, at the Stade Ernest-Wallon on Saturday evening, a game which they would ultimately lose 36-0 after a valiant performance.

AJ Towse, who enjoyed a fine breakthrough season in Knights colours last year, has been a regular starter under Henderson alongside fellow Heworth youngster Myles Harrison, while Brad Ward also featured in France.

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It was also a historic moment for Ben Barnard, who made his first start for the club in Toulouse, having made a number of appearances from among the interchanges.

And Rhodes was pleased to see the club's former players given the opportunity to test their skills against the unbeaten French side.

“I think it’s great, isn’t it," he enthused.

“Obviously, all four of them came through our junior system, which we pride ourselves on.

“If you look at our first team now at the moment, then you’re looking at 80 or 90 per cent of our team coming through our junior system.

“They’re doing absolutely fantastic. They’re getting minutes, maybe a couple playing out of position, but they’re getting in there and getting that experience. That’s massively important.

“I know from my time as a young player coming through, you do need to be playing. You need to be playing minutes in there.

“Good luck to them for the season."

York-born Rhodes, who played as both a stand-off and scrum half throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, made 113 appearances for the Knights from 2003-2008, and is now relishing seeing the players that he has coached follow the same path into semi-professional rugby.

“Toulouse, what a place to go for your debut!" he continued.

“Toulouse away, they’re flying high aren’t they.

"I haven’t coached Bradley Ward, he left before my time and went to Hull KR, but I’ve coached obviously AJ, Myles and Ben Barnard.

“Ben was with me for the last two seasons. I’ve coached the three of them and they’ve all got fantastic attitudes.

“From what I know about Ben, he’ll never shake a challenge, and he’s got a lot of potential has Ben, so good luck to them.

“Hopefully they’ll get more minutes this year."

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Towse, Barnard, Ward and Harrison are just four of the products of the club's successful junior pathway, and Rhodes is excited about the calibre of talent currently in the club's ranks.

“Our junior system, we’ve got players in senior squads at Wakefield Trinity and Leeds Rhinos, we’ve got players at Wigan," he explained. "We’ve got players floating all over Super League.

“If the juniors want to work hard and dedicate themselves to rugby league, then I’m sure that there’ll be an opportunity for them somewhere along the line 

“Seeing them play at a higher level,  it makes coaching worthwhile, doesn’t it.

“Obviously I’d love to keep them myself, me being a coach, I’ve got high aspirations to be fighting for honours in division one and division two, and the premiership.

“Every time we lose players, we’re kind of in a rebuilding process, but it’s just what we do as an amateur club, we’ll look for the next crop of players coming through."