IT is no coincidence Huddersfield’s five-game winning start to the season has followed the arrival of giant new forward Dr Gavin Rhodes to Lockwood Park.

The 6½-footer has brought a new dimension to coach Mark Sowerby’s pack, where he has been thrust into the second row, helping to give Huddersfield some extra go-foward up front and another valued option in the line-out.

But his arrival at Lockwood Park has more than a fair slice of good fortune attached to it as far as Huddersfield were concerned, after Rhodes was recommended to give it a try by his wife!

“I’d been playing in Barnsley, which is where I started my rugby career but, to be honest, I was disillusioned with the standard and what was happening there,” admitted Rhodes.

“My wife, who works at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, then suggested trying Huddersfield, having seen the ground and facilities there.

“So I gave Hamish (Pratt) a call and popped down at the back end of last season to have a look.

“I was really impressed with the fantastic facilities and surroundings there and decided to join the club. I trained with them during the summer and have progressed in terms of my fitness and I am delighted with the move I’ve made.

“They’re a cracking bunch of lads, and I’m really enjoying playing my rugby here.”

Rhodes started his rugby career as a 15-year-old at Barnsley, and one year later was in the first team, playing in the Yorkshire Leagues.

However, after leaving school he went to Leicester University and, as well as playing for the University side, also played for Syston in the Powergen Midlands II East League.

“We actually reached the County Cup final down there, and I got the chance to play at Leicester Tigers’ Welfare Road ground, which was a great experience.

“But then after graduating I moved back up North, and returned to my original club at Barnsley”. They were relegated at the end of last season and now play in Yorkshire III.

Rhodes’ roots are still in South Yorkshire, his mum still lives in Barnsley and dad in Penistone, although, ironically his sister has just gone in the opposite direction and moved down to Leicester, very close to Syston.

A specialist registrar in gastro-enterology, presently based at Doncaster hospital, Rhodes and his wife now live in Thurlstone, so travelling to his new club is not a problem, nor is playing in the second row, even though by his admission Rhodes is really a blindside flanker.

“I have played quite a bit in the second row before, but really I’m a No6. But, unfortunately, we have a trio of No6’s – so is George Hinchliff and Hamish Pratt.

“So I’ve had my arm twisted to play in the second row, which I don’t really mind anyway. And after the start we’ve made to the season everyone is enjoying their rugby.

“We’ve not yet really buried anybody, although I think we have played well in short spells in all the games. In this League you can’t afford to take your foot off the gas.

But sooner or later I think we’ll string it together for a full 80 minutes and somebody is going to be on the end of it.”

Coach Mark Sowerby acknowledges that ‘Gavin has been a great close-season signing for us,’ so it could be that Rhodes’ recruitment is ‘just what the doctor ordered!’