Ray Batten Name Ray Batten      Era 1961-1970 Place of Birth York Previous Club Heworth ARL Honours Great Britain  Debut  v Hull 2/11/63        Leeds Career : Like messers Rolls and Royce, Ray Batten and Bob Haigh were a quality partnership. Their skills dovetailed perfectly, Batten the master craftsman at loose forward, chiseling and carving out gilt edged chances and Haigh, a barnstorming second rower, making sure that the industry was turned into points. Their golden season was 1970-71, with Batten's guile and deception providing the ammunition for Haigh to register a then world record number of forty tries in a season for a forward. Latest in the line of one of the most families to grace the thirteen-a-side code, Ray Batten had the finest possible pedigree, grandson of legendary Billy who won all the domestic honors with Hunslet and revolutionised wing play around the turn of the century and nephew of Eric a Test centre at Bradford post war. His early career was spent in the amateur hotbed of his home town York, signing for Leeds as a 17-year-old from Heworth ARL club in 1963. His physique and ball handling expertise meant he was equally adept at scrum half or loose forward, the position at which he made his debut later that year in a Leeds squad that was just starting to develop some wonderful young talent from a newly revamped apprenticeship scheme. Honed under the revolutionary coaching skills of guru Roy Francis, this gifted group of teenagers matured in to the finest squad in the game which from the late sixties for a period of eight years were virtually unbeatable, especially at Headingley. Making 434 appearances in total, Ray Batten was the lynchpin of the side combining impeccably timed defence with a stunning variety of disguised passes on attack. He played in twelve major Finals during an illustrious career that brought him ten winners medals including two Championships, one Challenge Cup (where the torrential downpour in 1968 denied him the fitting stage for his skills) and the inaugural Premiership. After his retirement from playing in 1976, he kept involved in the game by becoming a coach at Wakefield and Director in his home city of York, where he ran a small hotel. Rugby Career : He was capped three times by Great Britain, twice against France in 1969 and earning a recall to face the Kangaroos at Wembley, where he was inspirational in the Second Test victory of 1973. Many felt his omission from the Lions party Down Under in 1970 was scandalous with only the Loiners backs gaining selection. To return to the main squad profiles page click here.