Grant family legacy alive and well at Pontefract RUFC with highly rated teenager Ethan

A generation later, James Grant was an ever-present in the front row from 1985 (when he also represented Yorkshire Colts) to 1999, captaining a particularly successful side in 1990-92.

Now the latest of the Grant rugby dynasty at Pontefract has emerged in young Ethan.

The 16-year-old pupil at King’s School has played for Pontefract’s juniors for a number of years and is currently in the U17s age group of Junior Colts.

Ethan’s commitment, courage and skill at scrum-half has caused a number of coaches to take notice and he has now been selected to join the Yorkshire Rugby Academy, based at York St John University, which is a pathway to the elite professional game.

"The Yorkshire Rugby Academy is a joint venture between England Rugby and the Premiership teams,” explained Ethan Potts, a member of Pontefract Colts’ coaching team,

“Granty can expect to be playing against the rugby academy sides of teams such as Sale, Newcastle and Harlequins over the next few months, so it’s a great opportunity for him to get noticed by Premiership clubs.”

Ethan Grant is looking forward to the challenge and has really been enjoying his rugby.

He said: “I’ve learned a lot about the game this last season from both Pottsy and Tristam Hibbett, our junior coaching team.

“The video analysis we do with our new Veo system has also been invaluable in enabling me to overview the entire game, not just my independent role, so I can now appreciate how attacking opportunities develop in congested player traffic and how better to structure our defensive formations.”

This is the sort of sophisticated coaching introduced some time ago by Pontefract’s Junior Elite Training (‘JET’) programme.

Ethan has taken advantage and is an ambitious lad who is a credit to the club. He hopes to study sports science at the prestigious Bishop Burton College after sitting GCSEs in the summer at King’s. Then the rugby world will open up before him.