Jonny Hepworth (born ) is an English

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer. He played club level rugby union (RU) for

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

Clontarf FC Clontarf Football Club is an Republic of Ireland, Irish rugby union club based in Clontarf, Dublin and playing, as of 2018, in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League (rugby union), All-Ireland League. History Having played firstly in a field a ...

Leeds Tykes Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 1. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 when it j ...

, and,

Rotherham R.U.F.C. Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a professional rugby union team from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league system, following their relegation from the Nat ...

, and club level rugby league (RL) for Castleford Panthers ARLFC,

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

( Heritage No. 799) and

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship (rugby league), Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rover ...

. He was born in

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

. He currently plays for the

. Hepworth previously played for the

, making his début for them at

Headingley Carnegie Stadium Headingley Stadium is a stadium complex in Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, comprising two separate grounds; Headingley Cricket Ground and Headingley Rugby Stadium, linked by a two-sided stand housing common facilities. The grounds a ...

against

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, ...

on 3 September 2006 at the start of the 2006–07

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

season. He states his best teammate was Keiran Hickman.

Leeds Rhinos

Hepworth played junior

for the Castleford Panthers ARLFC before joining

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

outfit

. He made only one appearance for the Rhinos, under coach

Daryl Powell Daryl A. Powell (born 21 July 1965) is an English professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Warrington Wolves in the Super League. He is a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1980s, 1990s and ...

, before briefly joining the

on loan in 2002 and his hometown club the

, also on loan, in 2003. Broncos coach

Tony Rea Tony Rea (born 25 July 1966) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and a former head coach for Super League club, London Broncos. A former , he played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League for Brothers, in the New Sout ...

said on the arrival of Hepworth in May 2002: ''"He's an exciting young player and will give us some nice back-up."'' In 2011 he signed for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side the

becoming a key figure in their side.

Castleford Tigers

His move to Castleford Tigers was made permanent but when they were relegated from the

. In 2004 he switched codes and signed for

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

side

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

, making six appearances and scoring one

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

. During his brief stint at the Castleford Tigers he was compared to Sean Long of St. Helens with his then coach

Graham Steadman Graham Steadman (born 8 December 1961) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 2000s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and Yorkshire, and at club level f ...

saying in April 2004: ''"I would compare Jonny Hepworth with the likes of Sean Long. He's got similar attributes, he's pacy, he has a quality kicking game and he supports well. What he lacks at the moment is that self-confidence and belief to take a game by the scruff of the neck.'' ''"He is in on merit because he is good enough and he's got to believe that. Obviously he's got to get game time and, on the back of that, the experience and confidence will come. He's got a great attitude and is certainly making good progress."'' Hepworth captained the

Academy team when they beat local rivals the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

U-19 side in the Senior Academy Championship with a 12–7 victory in a brilliant

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

in October 2002. He commented after the game: ''"We've worked hard all season and it's just what we wanted. They gave us everything in the first half and then we piled on the pressure and eventually got there. It was probably the biggest game of my life and it was great."''

Leinster

Before making his full début for Leinster against

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in Dublin on 6 November 2005 he said: '' "Apart from playing for a local team in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

when I was 15, coming on against

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

was my first competitive game. But I think I've adapted well and fitted in well here."'' ''"I'm picking up bits as we go along and settling in well, hopefully I can make a full début today and show what I can do."'' ''"If I was switching to be a union forward it'd be difficult, but as a utility back in league you can fit in more quickly. In league there's not much kicking, it's mainly just torpedo kicks when you're punting."'' ''"But here everyone can kick and our coach David Knox has been helping me out with that."'' He also featured for Clontarf in North Dublin. He then signed for the

, joining up again with

, the Leeds Tykes' first team coach. Hepworth joined the

for the

2010–11 RFU Championship The 2010–11 RFU Championship was the 2nd season (of the professionalised format) of the second division of the English domestic rugby union competitions, played between August 2010 and May 2011. New teams to the division included Worcester Warri ...

, and made an immediate impression with his pace in possession and tenacious defence.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at featherstonerovers.netStatistics at thecastlefordtigers.co.ukProfile on Leeds Tykes website
*(archived by web.archive.org

*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at leedsrugbyFourie scoops awards double at Leeds CarnegieRotherham 24 Leeds Carnegie 41Leeds Carnegie v Worcester Warriors, Sunday 25 April, kick off 3pmJonny Hepworth's Leeds Carnegie future in balanceSearch for "Jonny Hepworth" at bbc.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hepworth, Jonny 1982 births Living people Castleford Tigers players Clontarf FC players English rugby league players English rugby union players Featherstone Rovers players Leeds Rhinos players Leeds Tykes players Leinster Rugby players London Broncos players Rotherham Titans players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Castleford Rugby union players from Castleford