London Skolars would today like to confirm two loan signings from the London Broncos, the two Ben’s, Ben Pointer and Ben Gray. Both of these were prominent players when Skolars took on Broncos in last year’s London Clash. However, they will both be pulling on the red and black jersey to face former team mates this weekend, which is sure to contribute added spark to the game.
Ben Pointer, aged nineteen, started his affiliation with Rugby playing Union in Northampton, representing both the East Midlands and Northampton EPDG. From the age of ten however, he spent his summers playing Rugby League, he took to the thirteen aside game just as naturally. He was selected to join the Midlands regional Rugby League team for his scholarship. Through his application and quality coaching, Ben’s game continued to develop rapidly and he was selected to play for his local Northampton Demons men’s side at just seventeen. His ability to hold his own at such a young age, playing a strong men’s competition caught the attention of London Broncos who signed him to their academy. After a full season with a few eye catching performances, he went on to make his debut for the first team towards the end of their season in a loss to Hunslet Hawks. He is primarily a hooker, who is exceptionally quick from dummy half, much like one of last year’s most exciting players, Billy Driver. We would like to thank his Grand Parents John & Marjorie Blake for their sponsorship of Ben for this coming season.
Ben Gray is also nineteen and followed a somewhat similar path to Pointer. Also hailing from the Midlands, Ben was raised in Leicester. He had started his Rugby career playing union for his county of Leicestershire and was part of the Tigers academy up until the age of 16. It was at that age he was introduced to Rugby League by his local club the Leicester Storm, he went to the Midlands academy to play and study there for a year before being picked up by the London Broncos. Again it took Ben just a single season to impress the junior development personnel at the club and he was rewarded with a first team debut in 2015 against Hunslet Hawks. Gray’s favoured position is as a prop and will be easily distinguished to the Skolars faithful by his immense work rate. Gray will be sponsored by Rugby League 2016 twitter account and their kind followers.
Both have been training regularly with the first team squad and have blended into the team seamlessly. Ben Pointer when asked about the move at training this Wednesday was extremely optimistic stating ‘the move is going to enable us both to get a lot more game time at a good standard of Rugby League, which in turn should help us to develop as players as we will get to hone all the skills and techniques taught to us in pre season.’
