Michael "Bruno" Lawrence (born 12 April 1990) is a professional

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 ...

footballer who plays as a for 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 ...

in the

RFL Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football Lea ...

. He is both an

England Knights England Knights (previously known as Emerging England and England A) is considered the feeder team for the England rugby league team. The Knights play a key role in the development of emerging talent, allowing players to gain experience in an i ...

and Jamaican international, and has played as a er and forward at various stages during his career.

Background

Lawrence was born in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

, West Yorkshire, England and has Jamaican heritage. Lawrence is a product of the Giants' academy system. and represented the

in the European cup in 2012 In 2019 he enjoyed a well earned

Testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, where ...

year. He is a firm favourite amongst the Huddersfield supporters who refer to him as "Bruno", a nickname due to his likeness to the famous British boxer

Frank Bruno Franklin Roy Bruno, (born 16 November 1961) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1996. He had a highly publicised and eventful career, both in and out of the ring. The pinnacle of Bruno's boxing career was winning ...

Career

It was announced in July 2007 that Lawrence would become a member Huddersfield's

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 ...

squad for the 2008 season. Lawrence's previous club was

Newsome Panthers Newsome Panthers ARLFC is an amateur rugby league club based in Newsome, Huddersfield. The club was founded with only two junior teams in 1995 and has since grown into one of the largest clubs in Yorkshire with teams for children of all ages. M ...

. Lawrence was selected for the England Academy team in the 2007 season, a reward for consistently good performances throughout the season with Huddersfield's Academy. Lawrence made his

début during Huddersfield's important fixture with

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

on 31 August 2007. He started the game on the substitutes' bench and replaced

Chris Nero Chris Nero (born 14 February 1981) is an Australians, Australian/Italian people, Italian former professional rugby league footballer. He last played in the Super League for Salford Red Devils, Salford City Reds. His usual position was at , alth ...

for the last five minutes of the game. This made him the first player born in the 1990s to play super league. Since then Lawrence has enjoyed a trip to the challenge cup final at Wembley in 2009. Been a part of the history making squad that lifted the league leaders shield in 2013, and was granted a year long testimonial in 2019 for Over 10 years loyal service to the Huddersfield Giants club. In 2012, Lawrence was a part of the England Knights team that won the European cup, and again In 2013 when they beat Samoa. In 2019 represented Jamaica in a full international, ironically against the England knights at Leeds.

References

External links

Huddersfield Giants profileSL profileJamaica profile
1990 births Living people Bradford Bulls players England Knights national rugby league team players English people of Jamaican descent Jamaican rugby league players English rugby league players Huddersfield Giants captains Huddersfield Giants players Jamaica national rugby league team players Rugby league centres Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Huddersfield Rugby league second-rows {{England-rugbyleague-bio-stub