Luke Gale

Luke Gale (born 22 June 1988) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as scrum-half or stand-off for the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League. He is an England Knights and England international.

Luke Gale
Personal information
Born (1988-06-22) 22 June 1988
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight13 st 4 lb (84 kg; 186 lb)
Playing information
PositionScrum-half, Stand-off, Hooker
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2007–2008 Doncaster 43 33 74 6 286
2009–2011 Harlequins 76 21 97 4 282
2012–2014 Bradford Bulls 64 19 119 5 319
2015–19 Castleford Tigers 104 33 415 16 978
2020– Leeds Rhinos 6 4 11 1 39
Total 293 110 716 32 1904
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2011–2012 England Knights 2 2 8 0 24
2016– England 9 1 5 0 14
As of 2 August 2020
Source: [1][2][3]

He previously played for the Bradford Bulls and Harlequins RL, for Championships club Doncaster and the Castleford Tigers.[1][2]

Biography

Gale was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England on 22 June 1988.[3]

Playing career

2000s

A Leeds academy graduate, Gale joined Doncaster in 2007 and established himself as a first-choice player, winning the National League Two Young Player of the Year award in 2008, in which he became the club's record points scorer in a season. Gale's form at Doncaster attracted interest from Super League clubs and he moved to London's Harlequins Rugby League team.

2010s
Gale in action for Harlequins in 2010.

Gale spent three years at Harlequins club before joining Bradford Bulls.

Gale immediately became first-choice scrum-half for Bradford, scoring 143 points for the club in his début season. He signed a three-year extension to his contract at the start of 2013, however he missed the first three months of the season due to injury and only made 16 appearances in total during the year. Gale missed only one match for Bradford in 2014, however the team struggled on the field and the club was relegated from Super League at the end of the season, following which Gale left the club.

Gale playing for Castleford in 2015

Gale joined Castleford in 2015 as a replacement for the departing Marc Sneyd, and scored a try on his début for the club against Wakefield Trinity. Gale enjoyed a productive season, scoring 205 points and becoming an integral part of the team that narrowly missed out on the Super League semi-finals. His form was recognised as he won the Albert Goldthorpe Medal at the end of the season.[4]

Gale was made acting captain for the 2016 due to injury to Michael Shenton. Another strong season in which he topped the league for try assists saw him retain his Albert Goldthorpe medal.

In 2017, Gale played an integral role in guiding Castleford to the League Leaders Shield, their first piece of major silverware since 1994, as well as leading the team to their maiden Grand Final appearance, which was lost 24-6 to Leeds Rhinos. Undoubtedly Gale’s best performance of the season was in Castleford’s 23-22 victory over St Helens in their BetFred Super League semi-Final, in which he converted a last-minute penalty to bring the game to golden point extra-time, before scoring the drop-goal which sent Castleford to Old Trafford for the first time in the club’s history. Just two weeks beforehand, he had undergone an emergency appendectomy operation. The following week, Gale was named 2017 Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel for his performances throughout the season, beating team-mate Zak Hardaker and Hull FC’s Albert Kelly to the award.

He played in the 2017 Super League Grand Final defeat by the Leeds Rhinos at Old Trafford.[5][6][7]

International career

In 2011 and 2012, Gale played for the England Knights team. He kicked 8 goals, as well as scoring 1 try, in the Knights' 56–4 victory over Ireland in the 2012 European Cup.

After an outstanding 2015 Super League season, Gale was named in the senior England team for their end-of-year internationals against France and New Zealand,[8] but did not make an appearance. He was selected again in England's squad for the 2016 Four Nations, making his international début in a test match against France.

He was selected in the England squad for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup,[9] and subsequently played every game as England made the final in Melbourne, where they lost narrowly to hosts Australia.

Statistics
SeasonAppearanceTriesGoalsF/GPoints
2012 Bradford Bulls192671143
2013 Bradford Bulls1638129
2014 Bradford Bulls2914443147
2015 Castleford Tigers29111021249
2016 Castleford Tigers3071202270
2017 Castleford Tigers3420056
Total104342687679

As of 3 March 2017

References
  1. "Profile at loverugbyleague.com". loverugbyleague.com. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  2. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  3. "Luke Gale". castlefordtigers.com. Castleford Tigers. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  4. Luke Gale wins Albert Goldthorpe Medal
  5. "Castleford 6-24 Leeds: Grand Final 2017 – as it happened". Guardian. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  6. "Grand Final 2017: Castleford 6-24 Leeds Rhinos". BBC Sport. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  7. "Danny McGuire guides Leeds to Grand Final success over Castleford". Guardian. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  8. "MCNAMARA NAMES 24-MAN SQUAD FOR 2015 INTERNATIONAL SERIES". englandrl.co.uk. 11 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  9. "England rugby league World Cup squad revealed - and James Roby is back in the fold". Mirror. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
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