Difference between rugby codes revealed as Tykes man makes Leeds Rhinos switch

Rhinos’ strength and conditioning (S and C) coach Charlie Venables made his rugby league debut in the recent draw with fellow unbeaten side St Helens last month.

Then, playing at centre, he grabbed two tries, including a length of the field effort, when the second-string won 50-14 in fierce heat at Wakefield Trinity last weekend.

Venables is in his second season on Rhinos’ backroom staff and is also strength and conditioning coach and a player at rugby union club Leeds Tykes.

From Staffordshire, his union experience includes England Counties under-20s, England Universities Sevens, Sale Sharks in the Premiership 7s and Leeds Beckett University, but - despite his off-field expertise - he is new to playing the 13-a-side code.

“I play and do S and C at the Tykes and my full-time role is S and C at the Rhinos, ” Venables told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

“I have been a rugby union player all my life, really. The reserves’ game against St Helens was my first-ever game of rugby league and Wakefield was my second.

Venables moved to West Yorkshire to study sports science at Leeds Beckett University in 2016.

He did five years there, a three-year undergraduate degree in sport science and then a two-year masters degree in strength and conditioning.

An internship at Rhinos alongside his masters led to him joining the full-time staff, but actually pulling on a blue and amber jersey was never part of the plan.

“I’m not really sure, to be honest,” he said of how that came about. “The rugby union season doesn’t really cross over with the league season and the boys are always asking how I’m getting on, so they know when my season with Tykes finishes.

“There were a few jokes being bandied about, saying ‘will you have a run out for the reserves at some point’? I always said if it was needed, I’d have a go, because it would be something different and something fun to do.”

Some of Rhinos’ fringe players have stepped up into the first team picture during the current spate of injuries, reducing the number available to reserves coach Tony Smith.

Last year Rhinos bolstered their reserves squad with players on loan from other clubs, but they have opted not to do that this term.

“Tony Smith came and had a chat and he said ‘do you actually think you could do it’?,” Venables recalled.

“I said if he needed me to play, I’d be more than happy to. I have really enjoyed both games, it has been good fun.”

As an outside-back, Venables reckons skills are “very transferable” between the codes. He revealed: “The biggest difference, for me, was the constant moving.

“That nature of the game is very different, there’s not the same number of stoppages or length of stoppages you have in rugby union, but I play a lot of sevens throughout the summer so I like to think I am in decent shape and pretty fit. The crossover has been really enjoyable and [in league] you feel like you are a lot more involved, because you get involved in yardage.”

Rhinos’ reserves have a game against Huddersfield Giants at Headingley next Friday, as a curtain-raiser to the Super League clash and Venables is available if required.

“I’ve said whenever I am needed to play I am more than happy to do it,” he added. “The more I do it, the more I learn and I’ll get better at it. If they need me, I’ll play as much as they want me to.”

Friday will be a big evening for Rhinos’ senior side as they aim to avoid a hat-trick of defeats to Super League’s bottom three clubs.

Successive losses to Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity have left Rhinos six points outside the play-offs, but Venables is “absolutely confident” they will turn their season around.

He said: “There’s a lot of confidence and belief in the building. Guys turn up every day to work and there’s no questioning anybody’s effort. You have to stick with the process and things will come.”