Keith Senior

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Keith Senior (born 24th April 1976 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire) is an English rugby league player. He is a centre. He was in the World XIII in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

[edit] Sheffield Eagles

Gary Hetherington signed Keith from Huddersfield YMCA rugby union team. He made 130 starts and 9 substitute appearances for the Eagles scoring 55 tries over his five years at the club. Two of these tries came against Leeds in both fixtures during the 1998 season.

In 1996 he was the club's top try scorer with 17 tries and he repeated this feat again in 1998 with a further 19. It was also in this year that Keith gained his first winner's medal of his professional career when Sheffield shocked the rugby league world when they beat Wigan 17-8 in the Challenge Cup Final.

[edit] Leeds Rhinos

Great Britain international Keith Senior signed for the Rhinos on the last day of the regular season of 1999 making his debut on the same day at Headingley against London Broncos. After a quiet start to his Leeds career Keith burst into life in 2000 finishing the season as joint top try scorer with 18 touchdowns before scoring 16 in 2001.

He scored 24 tries the following year and then in 2003 he was named the Leeds Rhinos Players Player of the Year after collecting 12 tries in all competitions. In 2004 Keith was a regular in the centre and was fundamental to the Rhinos success, playing 30 games and scoring 13 tries.

His performances gained him recognition when he was named in the Tetley’s Super League Dream Team of 2004 for the fourth year running. Since joining Leeds Keith has been one of the Rhinos top performers, with his superb driving runs and powerful tackles he is one of the Rhinos best all round performers.

He became the 20th player in the 110 year history of Leeds to score 100 tries in his career in 2005 and has currently scored 107 tries in 190 appearances including one appearance as a replacement for Leeds. In total he has 162 tries in 329 games in his domestic career.

Keith also has the record for most appearances in Super League having played in the very first game in 1996 for Sheffield in Paris. He has scored four hat tricks for the Rhinos including two last season in the home wins over Warrington and Hull, he has also scored four tries on one occasion against Halifax in 2000.

[edit] Great Britain and other representational rugby league

Keith made his name on the international scene in 1996 and has been a virtual ever present for Great Britain since. Keith made his first appearance off the bench against Fiji when he came on as a substitute during the 72-4 win and was a try scorer on the day, he followed this up with a second substitute appearance against New Zealand when the side lost 12-17 in Auckland.

He made his first team start in 1998 against New Zealand and started the subsequent two games of that test. In 2001 he was selected for the Great Britain squad for the Ashes and was an ever present during the series. In 2001 he again joined the England side to beat Wales 42-33 in a Home Internationals game. In 2001 Keith made his debut for Yorkshire in the origin game at Headingley, he scored a try in that game however Yorkshire lost 24-36.

In 2002 he again represented his county when Yorkshire took on Lancashire, scoring a try in the second Origin game; however, the side lost on both occasions. In 2002 Keith was chosen for the Test match against Australia and joined the squad for the New Zealand Tour when Great Britain managed to win, lose and draw in the three Tests against New Zealand.

In 2003 Keith was part of the Great Britain squad who played in the Ashes and in the first test Keith scored a try, putting in a man of the match winning performance, despite Great Britain losing 18-22 to Australia. Keith played again in the second test, but missed out on the final game due to injury. In 2003 when Yorkshire finally beat Lancashire 56-6, Keith scored the first try of the game and added another in the closing minutes of the game.

Keith was also chosen to represent Great Britain in the 2004 Tri Nations and played in all five games of the competition. Keith played four games for England in the 2000 World Cup, scoring the crucial first try against Ireland in the quarter final to ensure their place in the semi final against New Zealand where their run in the competition came to an end with a 49-6 defeat.

In 2005 Keith was once again part of the Great Britain Tri Nations squad, scoring a try in their opening game against New Zealand, and again in their second encounter when the Lions defeated the eventual tournament winners 38-12.

[edit] External links

• Keith Senior Official Player Profile
• 2001 Ashes profile