Ambitious Leeds Rhinos prop Tom Holroyd has represented England at Academy and Knights level – and admits he would love to win a first senior cap. The homegrown product came through the vaunted Academy at Headingley before making his first-team debut against Catalans Dragons in June 2018.
He went on to make a career-best 16 appearances in blue and amber during the 2021 season before injury and suspension wrecked the majority of the 2022 season. Now fully fit, though, the Halifax lad has played in all four games so far this season and escaped the ‘nudey run’ by scoring his first try of 2023 during last Friday’s 26-0 home win over Wakefield Trinity.
The 22-year-old is showing the kind of quality which saw him help England to a 2-0 Test series win over the Australia Schoolboys in December 2018 in a team which featured the likes of Harry Newman, Sam Walters, Jack Welsby and Harry Smith. Holroyd has since represented the second-tier England Knights against Jamaica and is now hoping to catch Shaun Wane’s eye with a mid-season Test against France looming on April 29.
Holroyd told Leeds Live: “Playing for my country at senior level is definitely a dream of mine. I’d love to represent England and do my family proud. All I can focus is on my performances right now because I can’t make the decision for Shaun Wane. Certainly I hope to be in the picture, but I’m just going to continue giving my all for Leeds and see what comes off the back of that.”
The fierce competition for places at Leeds with the likes of Walters, Sam Lisone, Zane Tetevano, Mikolaj Oledzki is spurring Holroyd on. “It’s healthy competition,” he said. “We’ve worked hard throughout pre-season together and we’ve got a tight middle unit, which can only be a good thing for Leeds Rhinos.
“I enjoyed myself on Friday against Wakefield because it’s always a pleasure to play at Headingley in front of the fans and was good to get the win. The try was gifted to me off Aidan Sezer and I couldn’t really mess that one up! I was pleased to score and I’d like to think I’ve got tries in my game. When you’re playing for Leeds, you should be able to score from anywhere on the pitch, I believe.”
The return to fitness of Newman is also a major boost to the Rhinos as they bid for a third successive win at Castleford Tigers on Friday. Newman marked is comeback against Wakefield with a try and Holroyd said: “Harry’s an unbelievable talent and has worked to get back to where he is now.
“It’s been a long seven months for him and he deserved that try. We’re a close-knit group at Leeds and I’d like to think we’ve looked after Harry during his time out. Now he’s fit, I can only see him getting stronger and that bodes well for us as a team.”
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