Rising Huddersfield YMCA star Will Parfitt is poised to make his National III North debut – less than a month after celebrating his 17th birthday.

The highly-talented winger has been named in the starting line-up for tomorrow’s trip to Rossendale after starring for the club’s Under 17s side.

Parfitt was recommended for promotion by Under 17s coach Dave Creasey and Andy Kelly, who have both tipped the Yorkshire junior county prospect for the top.

And having also impressed the YMCA’s first-team coaching staff in training, excited club officials feel he’s more than ready to take the big step up.

“If we didn’t think Will was ready there’s no way he’d be playing,” said YMCA director of rugby Damon Scholes.

“We were receiving very positive feedback from him off Dave and Andy, and he’s shown everyone in senior training that he’s got bags of potential.

“It’s obviously going to be a massive step up for him, but we’re confident he won’t let anyone down at all.

“As a club, we’re very keen to promote from within, that’s why we put so much emphasis on our junior section. The players who have come up through our own junior ranks in the past haven’t let anyone down at all, and we certainly don’t expect Will to be an exception to that rule at all.”

Also named in the starting line-up for this week’s assignment as the YMCA look to pick up the pieces of last week’s 36-35 home defeat to Birkenhead Park is fly-half Ed Barber, who is now back full-time with the Laund Hill club following his spell with Championship club Halifax.

Huddersfield YMCA RU v Billingham in March 2015 - Ed Barber scores the first try for YM

And Scholes knows that with Barber and half-back partner Simon Wilson now back in permanent residence, his club can build on their shaky start of one win from their opening four League starts.

“Having Ed back with us all the time is obviously going to help,” added Scholes.

“The more time he’s able to spend with us, the greater his influence on the side can be, and that influence can be significant.

“But in the very short term, the focus this week is trying to get to the bottom of what went wrong against Birkenhead Park last weekend.

“When you’re 16 points up with 15 minutes to go, there’s no way we should have gone on to lose the game.

“We’ve got to make sure we got to the bottom of why that happened and make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”

Huddersfield YMCA: Watson, Dyke, Moore, Housley, Bell, Robertson, Starbuck; Wilson, Barber; Parfitt, Hodge, Ryder, Morton; Rhodes. Subs: Broughton, Dyson, Slater.