Huw Worthington speaks with Rugby League World
Huw Worthington speaks with Rugby League World
New London Broncos prop Huw Worthington has had an interesting career to date juggling rugby and working on a farm and that’s before we mention he didn’t start playing Rugby League until 2022.
Rugby League World recently interviewed Huw about his career and started with his upbringing;
“Probably like every farmer’s son, as soon as I could walk I was outside working, basically,” Worthington said.
“For 85 to 90 percent of my life, I have been based on the farm and then travelled for rugby. It’s all I know, really.
“I don’t think travelling concerns me as much as others because just to get to what I’d call a supermarket is half an hour away, so I’ve been used to travelling my whole life.”
Huw is far from the only player to have transitioned between the codes of rugby but leaving it until the age of 27 is relatively late and certainly the path in which he chose to go down makes his story even more unique;
“I’d flirted with the idea a number of times, had a couple of conversations and then probably wasn’t quite brave enough to do it – probably because I didn’t know anyone else playing rugby league,” Worthington said.
“I didn’t have anyone to convince me over the line, but as soon as Covid hit, I got really into the NRL and it was the catalyst. I was due to travel to New Zealand in 2020 to play rugby union, so I’d already decided I wanted to go abroad and play for a bit.
“After I decided rugby league was going to be the way forward for me, I thought I’d wait until the borders in Australia were open and learn to play out there where it’s massive and there’s loads of clubs, and do a bit of travelling.
“I didn’t get out there until mid-2022, so it took a bit of time, but that was how it went.”
“The culture out there is the players are tough and it’s very much a culture of don’t stop until you can’t give any more because the players are all exceptionally fit and used to playing in ridiculous heat,” Worthington said.
“The first game I played for the Roosters in the New South Wales Cup it was 39 degrees and I thought ‘Christ, this is different from playing at Richmond in February in six degrees’, but it was that kind of culture of never give up and that was something I had to learn as I swapped from rugby union to rugby league.
“It was really good for me and I wish I’d have gone sooner, but I wish I’d have started playing rugby league before I went out.
“But it was a great experience and I was lucky to have landed on my feet to join Glebe and then get the opportunity to do the New South Wales Cup.”
Huw is a Welsh international and is proud of his roots and now is focused on promoting the game of Rugby League to an area which has predominantly been a Union heartland.
“I do think there is huge potential for rugby league in Wales,” Worthington said. “Rugby union in Wales is at a real crossroads and I think people are a bit disengaged with it.
“[Cross-code great] Clive Griffiths is in charge of Wales rugby league development and especially the younger kids coming through, so hopefully the 16-year-olds will look at it and think ‘actually, there might be a better path to playing rugby league to rugby union’.
“There is a lot of talent in Wales and a lot of it – there’s the M4 corridor and down the south, and everything above Brecon, where I was – is pretty much ignored.
“There is a lot of untapped potential and it only takes one person to switch allegiances, and hopefully a couple more might follow.”
To read the full interview with Huw CLICK HERE!
Huw Worthington is sponsored by Gabrielle Kane
