Michael Worrincy

Michael Worrincy

Personal information
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	15 st 5 lb (215 lb; 98 kg) (98 Kg)
Playing information
Position	Second-row
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2005–08 Harlequins RL 34 11 0 0 44 2009–2010 Bradford Bulls 49 12 0 0 48 2011– Penrith Panthers 0 0 0 0 0 Total 83 23 0 0 92
Source: Rugby League Project As of September 27th, 2009

Michael Worrincy, born 16 February 1986 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, is an English rugby league player for Penrith Panthers in the NRL. He is the younger brother of Halifax RLFC and Welsh international Rob Worrincy.

2007 has seen Worrincy move into the front row. Brian McDermott has also used Worrincy as a back-row forward. However his favoured playing position is as a loose forward.

He is of Nigerian and Welsh descent, and was brought up in London.

Early career

Worrincy has been at the club since he was 16 years old when he began playing for the London Broncos academy side after signing from the Greenwich Admirals. Worrincy toured Australia with BARLA U18s. Michael spent the 2005 season further developing his skills whilst on loan with Hull FC's U21 academy side together with fellow loanee Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook played an important role in Hull's U21 Grand Final success.

2006 Season

In 2006 Harlequins struggled for form and additionally had an injury crisis with 15 players unavailable and there were calls for the clubs best youngsters to appear. Mike Worrincy and Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook were considered for the home game against Leeds, yet it was two months later before Worrincy finally made his debut for the senior squad after coming off the bench against the Bradford Bulls in his sides 58-16 defeat on 13 May 2006.

Worrincy made his second senior appearance as a substitute on the 29th May in a historic 29-28 win against Salford City Reds with Henry Paul kicking over a drop-goal in the 79th minutes to secure the two points.

On the 10th June Mike traded the number 17 jumper for a starting position in the second row against Warrington. In an exciting game Worrincy charged on to the ball from 40 yards out and ran brilliantly through the defence to register his first ever four points for the club. Quins RL won 30-28 with Warrington scoring three tries in the last twelve minutes to bring the sides close despite a dominant performance.

Mike's last appearance of the season came in round 22 when Harlequins defeated Hull FC 18-16 in another close game. Similar to Mike's previous appearance the opposition ran in three late tries.

2007 season

In the 2007 season, Mike returned from a serious leg injury to play a role in the first three games of the season. He came off the interchange bench against St Helens away on the 9th February in a 14-6 win; stayed on the bench for the round two game against Salford City Reds which was an 18-18 draw and played as a starting Prop in the away 26-10 win versus Hull KR.

Despite these strong performances Worrincy was dropped into the Academy. The club preferred Temata, Heckenberg, Mills and McCarthy-Scarsbrook as the starting and impact Props. In the second row Lee Hopkins and Rob Purdham played almost every game, with Jonny Grayshon covering that position from the bench. At loose forward perhaps the two highest-earners at the club Scott Hill and Henry Paul were competing for a position after both were displaced at half-back by McLinden and Orr.

Many Quins supporters were disappointed that Mike was not selected during this period and some were shocked when Brian McDermott decided to sign Luke Burgess on loan and play him straightaway. Additionally former Leeds Rhinos Academy forwards Joe Walsh and Dave Tootill started to be named in the twenty-man squad whilst Worrincy was left out.

Given this context, it was a surprise when Worrincy reappeared in rounds 11 and 12 having seemingly drifted out of favour. He started on the bench in the heavy defeats at Huddersfield Giants on the 22nd April (46-16) and again on the 29th April 2007 (a 6-44 home loss) versus St Helens. These were the two heaviest defeats of the season and Mike quickly found himself out of favour despite it being obvious that others had played poorly.

During his time on the sidelines he obtained his first personal sponsorship in June 2007, with Kate Rammond sponsoring him for home games and Mark Rammond sponsoring him away from home (cited in Harlequins RL matchday program).

A spate of injuries in the side including Purdham, Heckenberg, Paul and Hill saw Michael return to play rounds 15, 16, 17 and 18. He found himself on the bench in the heavy 44-18 loss away at Bradford. However he started at second row for the excellent home win against Wigan Warriors (18-8). He also featured in the away Challenge Cup defeat at Wigan the following week and then played in the second row for the historic first ever Super League try-less game where Quins lost 5-2 away at Salford City.

He then played against Hull KR as a starting Prop on the 30th June 2007 where he was instrumental in the 32-18 win, scoring the first try of the game from five metres out and his own first try of the season. The following Saturday he appeared against Les Catalans who dominated the early stages of the game with their awesome size and strength combing with gallic flair to dominate the match but ultimately Quins went onto record a 30-22 victory. However, although Mike made the 18 for the following game against Hull FC away he found himself yet again out of favour. Although Quins RL were 8-0 up after only 13 minutes, they consistently gave away penalties to go in 8-8 at the break following four conversions from Danny Tickle. In the second half Quins conceded further two further tries and scored no points whatsoever despite having four consecutive series of possession followed quickly by another three.

It seems that Quins RL have not always noticed the correlation between the selection of Michael Worrincy and the positivity of the result.

Michael is the younger brother of former Academy star Rob Worrincy, who became a journeyman in the 2007 season with appearances for Leeds Metropolitan University, a trial with 2006 Grand Finalists Hull FC and then returned to Sheffield Eagles, where his previous final appearance has seemed to be in the National League Grand Final where he scored a length of the field try.

Worrincy's best attribute is his determination and pace. A commanding figure when locking the scrum or in the second row, Michael is a supreme athlete who is both forceful and nimble in the pack. With his good footballing skills, Michael Worrincy is a hugely promising player.

The prop-forward was selected to play for the Harlequins Rugby Union side for the Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham Stadium. He guested for club's sister rugby union team in the tournament as Tony Clubb was called on to replace the unavailable Paul Sykes in the match against Wigan Warriors.

2008

Michael Signed for Bradford Bulls on the 25 September 2008.

2010

On the 12 November 2010 it was announced Michael had signed for Penrith Panthers. After 3 years at Bradford, he signed another one year extension with Bradford to keep him for 2011, Bradford however, u-turned and attempted to cancel Worrincy's contract which Worrincy rejected and sought help from the players association. His attempts made Bradford u-turn once again and agreed to keep him before he was approached with a move to the NRL. On the 12th November 2010, he successfully agreed terms with Penrith and became the 3rd former Bull (Sam Burgess, Mark Flanagan and Michael Worrincy) to play in Australia.

External links

• Harlequins profile
• Independent on Sunday Article 23 March 2006