Nineteen year-old Max Copley is the latest graduate of Pontefract Rugby Club’s hugely successful junior rugby set-up to receive county recognition when he represented Yorkshire RFU Under 20s against Cheshire at the weekend. Not only did Max make his debut for Yorkshire Under 20s, having had his Under 18s campaign thwarted a couple of years ago by the Covid lockdowns, but he also crowned a solid performance on the left wing with a well-worked try.

Max learned his rugby with Pontefract from a tender age and at King’s School under the tutelage of head coach Craig Fawcett who confirms: ‘He has always had all the attributes of a great player: the right attitude, commitment, speed and skill. We play him at fly-half or full-back so we get the benefit of his fantastic kicking game’.

After King’s School, Max attended Askham Bryan College in York where he qualified as a crop technician and he now works locally as an arable farmer on Copley’s Farm.

Pontefract’s Director of Rugby, Mike Parkinson, explains that Max has joined a long list of stalwarts of the Club, such as Alan Boyd, Martyn Ward and Steve Close, in receiving representative honours with Yorkshire. ‘It’s a privilege to add Max’s name to our Yorkshire Honours Board at this stage of his rugby career. He has wonderful potential and we see Max as a future captain of the Club.’

Liam Kay, the current captain of Pontefract Rugby Club, conveys the Club’s congratulations and best wishes to Max for the remaining four games of the county season: ‘We’re proud of Max’s representative success. He has a maturity beyond his years and is a great roll model for the juniors (as well as some of the senior squad). The month of March will see Pontefract compete for the top-spot in the RFU’s North East Regional II League, and Max’s presence certainly drives our current back-three, and myself at fly-half, to keep training and improving as we know Max is close behind us, ready and able to step into the senior squad when called upon’.