Liam Botham Name Liam Botham      Era 2001 onwards Place of Birth Doncaster Previous Club Newcastle Falcons RU Honours England A RU  Debut  v Castleford 22/08/03        Leeds Career : Liam arrived at Headingley in August 2003 from Newcastle Falcons and played five games for the Rhinos Senior Academy side before making his first team debut. He signed predominantly to play for the Rhinos sister rugby union club Leeds Tykes but was keen to develop his education in Rugby League so played for the Rhinos until the Tykes season started. He returned to the Rhinos in January 2004 to continue his development and made some impressive appearnces in the Senior Academy with his strong running in the second row and accurate goal kicking. Liam made just one substitute appearance for the Rhinos last year, having spent part of the season on loan with London Broncos. Liam left the Rhinos during the 2005 season having scored 4 tries in 13 appearnces for the club that season. Rugby Career : Rugby League was Liam's third top flight sport he has played during his career having played first class cricket for Hampshire and rugby union for West Hartlepool, Cardiff and Newcastle. Liam's rugby career began midway through the 1996-97 season when he quit first class cricket to concentrate on his rugby career. He moved back north to sign for West Hartlepool making his debut in January 1997 and making his debut for England U21 in the same season. At the end of his first season he moved to Wales with Cardiff where he came to national prominence with a string of fine displays in the Welsh capital. He was highly sort after by the Welsh RFU but eventually decided to play for England and was selected for the England A team. At the start of the 2000-2001 season he moved back to the North East to join Newcastle Falcons and was part of the squad that won the Tetley Bitter Cup and reached the European Shield Final. At the end of the 2002-2003 season, Liam left Newcastle to try his hand at rugby league and after impressing on an initial four game trial at Bradford Bulls, Leeds stepped in to secure his signature on a dual code basis. Liam played for Leeds Tykes in the 2003-2004 season featuring in the Zurich Premiership, the Heineken Cup and winning a man of the match prize for his performance against Harlequins in the Powergen Cup. In total he made 14 appearances scoring two tries To return to the main squad profiles page click here.