St Helens loanee Taylor Pemberton loving life at York Knights

The 20-year-old arrived in York on loan from Betfred Super League heavyweights St Helens on deadline day, and it’s easy to see why he is one of the most exciting young talents Henderson has at his disposal.

Scoring within a minute of his debut in a thriller at Widnes Vikings, Pemberton stood up to a new challenge in the halves at Bradford Bulls on Sunday, delivering a grubber kick in the direction of AJ Towse, whose score turned the tight contest firmly in the Knights’ favour.

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He first turned to the sport as a child, finding that it was much more interesting than his father’s five-a-side football match, and has never looked back since.

“It was a bit of a weird one to start with to be honest,” he explained to The Press. “I never really watched rugby until about the age of five.

“I went down to a local rugby club, but it wasn’t to watch the rugby, it was to watch my dad play five-a-side football!

“But instead of watching his football, I was watching the rugby training that was going on behind me.

“My mum turned around and said ‘do you want to give it a go’ ? The day after I went along, and since then I’ve never had a rugby ball out of my hand!”

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Pemberton joined St Helens’ academy aged 14, but despite being nervous to make the move away from the North West, he now admits he feels as though he has always been at York.

“You get taught the Saints way from pretty much day one,” he explained.

“I think that you can take a lot of life lessons out of it as well. Being in that professional environment for such a long time, it’s benefited me a lot in a life sense and with a lot of skills on the rugby pitch as well.

“But I’m definitely settling in at York now. To be honest, it was a bit nerve-wracking at first coming away from Saints, because I’d been there since I turned 14.

“Going into a different set-up for the first time, it was nerve-wracking, but all the lads have been great, Hendo’s been great with me and Clint [Goodchild, chairman] has been really good.

“They’ve all made me feel really welcome and like I’ve been a part of it here for all my life. It seems like I’ve never not been here and I’ve only been here a month.

"I’m absolutely loving my time here.”

Pemberton credits St Helens captain James Roby with teaching him his trade. (Image: Richard Sellars/PA)

Having learned from one of the country’s best hookers in James Roby during his time at St Helens, Pemberton admits that whilst he has been able to pick up some tricks from Will Jubb, Josh Daley and James Cunningham in the position, the majority of their advice has centred around York’s strengths and playing in the Betfred Championship.

“I’ve just been picking their brains in different areas really,” he said.

“I’ve been fortunate to learn a lot from one of the best in James Roby at Saints, but here it’s a completely different dynamic.

“I’ve been picking their brains in how York work. All teams come from the same place on the field and pretty similar positions, but they might have a different process in how to do it.

 “Coming from that Super League environment, it’s been picking their brains in how to play in the Championship - what is the tempo like, what is its physicality, and what you should look for.

“They’ve been helpful with that, and I think that that’s only going to benefit me because people say that the Super League and the Championship aren’t far apart, and I completely agree – I think that it’s even more physical.

“But to have an idea of what I was going into, they did really help me.”

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Having a former hooker in head coach Henderson has also helped, he believes.

“It’s really beneficial - you can just go up and ask him about the position because he’s been there and done that himself.

“He’s so approachable, because if you’ve got any questions in regards to in attack or defence, Hendo is the man to go and do it.

“For him to be the head coach and such a pivotal player in his career, it is really beneficial to me as a young player coming through that he can do that.”

As for whether he would consider making the permanent move to York, Pemberton revealed: “If the opportunity arose, I would.

“That decision will come, but I’m just focusing on it game by game, and I’ll let the outcome come.

“I think that if I keep performing the best that I can and keep doing what I can do well, the outcome will take care of itself.”