James Roby

James Roby
Personal information
Full name James William Mark Roby[1]
Born (1985-11-22) 22 November 1985[2]
Whiston, Merseyside, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[3]
Weight 14 st 2 lb (90 kg)[3]
Playing information
Position Hooker

Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2004– St Helens 428 101 1 0 406
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–07 Great Britain 7 1 0 0 4
2008– England 30 5 0 0 20
As of 6 October 2018
Source: [4][5][6][7]

James William Mark Roby (born 22 November 1985) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays for St. Helens in the Super League. A Great Britain and England international representative hooker, he has played his entire professional career to date at St Helens, winning 2006's and 2014's Super League Championships with them and the Challenge Cup in 2006, 2007 and 2008.[4][5][6][7] Individually, he has been named to the Super League Dream Team on five occasions, won the 2014 Harry Sunderland Trophy, and was the 2007 Man of Steel.

Background

Roby was born in Whiston, Merseyside, and he attended Cowley Language College from 1997 to 2002 then went on to the Sixth Form. He also went on to Liverpool John Moores University studying sports science but dropped out in his first year to concentrate on his rugby. He played for the North West Counties Under 18s.

Club career

2000s

Roby made his début in 2004 against Widnes after progressing through the academy ranks at St Helens. Roby's position is usually as a hooker and has plenty of experience already, playing alongside some of the greats of the game including Keiron Cunningham. Roby has made a massive impact for St. Helens and has played over 50 games for them. In 2005's Super League X, he was narrowly beaten to the Young Player of The Year. St Helens see James as one of the brighter prospects and he seems a perfect replacement for Keiron Cunningham when he retires, so much so that St. Helens were willing to allow Mickey Higham to leave the club and Roby was given a more active role in the team.

Roby playing for St Helens in 2010

Roby played for St Helens from the interchange bench in their 2006 Challenge Cup Final victory against Huddersfield. St Helens reached the 2006 Super League Grand final to be contested against Hull F.C., and Roby played from the interchange bench in Saints' 26–4 victory.

As 2006 Super League champions, St Helens faced 2006 NRL Premiers the Brisbane Broncos in the 2007 World Club Challenge. Roby played at hooker in the Saints' 18–14 victory.

Roby holds the honour of scoring the first try at the new Wembley Stadium, scored during St Helens' victory over Catalans Dragons in the Challenge Cup Final on 25 August 2007. Roby also won the 'Man of Steel' award in October 2007 after being judged to have had the most impact on 2008's Super League XIII season, being the youngest player to ever win the award, and also becoming the third St Helens player in a row to win the accolade from 2005 to 2007, with Jamie Lyon (2005) and Paul Wellens (2006) winning the award previously.

He played in the 2008's Super League XIII Grand Final defeat by Leeds.[8]

2010s

Despite being linked with moves to the NRL,[9] Roby committed his long-term future to St. Helens in 2013 by signing a 5-year contract with the club.[10]

St. Helens reached the 2014 Super League Grand Final, and Roby was selected to play at hooker, putting in a Man-of-the-Match performance to claim the Harry Sunderland Trophy in their 14–6 victory over Wigan.[11]

2018

On 23 January 2018 Roby was appointed captain for 2018 The 32-year-old takes over the role from back rower Jon Wilkin.

International career

Great Britain

Roby made his international début for Great Britain the 2006 Tri Nations during the tour against Australia, and New Zealand.

England

Roby was selected for the Egland squad to compete in the 2008 World Cup in Australia.[12] Group A's first match against Papua New Guinea he played at hooker, and was named the man-of-the-match in England's victory.

Roby returned to international rugby league when he was selected to play for England against France in the one-off test.[13] In 2011, Roby played in the 2011 Rugby League Four Nations, and was part of the team that lost the final to Australia.[14]

In 2013 Roby was named in England 2013 World Cup squad but lost in the semi-final in the dying seconds to New Zealand.[15]

After missing out on the 2014 Four Nations, Roby was selected in Englands 24-man squad to take on New Zealand in an end-of-year test-series. In a warm up game before the first test against the Kiwis, England took on France in a test match. Roby scored two of England's 15 tries in their romp over their opponents[16] and went on to beat the Kiwis 2–1.

In 2017, Roby was named in England's World Cup squad.

References

  1. ↑ "James William Mark Roby". Companies House. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  2. ↑ Stott, Julie (6 October 2010). "England Four Nations Pen Pics". News of the World. UK: News Group Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  3. 1 2 "James Roby". englandrl.co.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Profile at loverugbyleague.com". loverugbyleague.com. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  6. 1 2 "England Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl.co.uk. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl.co.uk. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "2008 Grand Final". BBC. 4 October 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Cartwright, Phil (11 October 2014). "St Helens v Wigan as it happened". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  12. ↑ "Purdham earns World Cup call-up". BBC. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  13. ↑ Hadfield, Dave (13 June 2010). "Widdop passes his first Test at a canter". The Independent. UK: Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  14. ↑
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ "England demolish France 84–4 in record win". Skysports.com. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
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