Patient Jones-Bishop ready to take chance on big stage

MaturING Ben Jones-Bishop is relishing the chance to at last fully appreciate a Super League Grand Final with Leeds Rhinos.

The burgeoning winger, 23, will be one of their main strike threats against St Helens on Saturday evening following a breakthrough season in which he has amassed 13 tries from only 18 games.

Gracing the Old Trafford stage is something he could only dream about when he was progressing through the Leeds Academy.

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He attended each of the three Grand Final victories against Saints between 2007 and 2009 but only as an avid spectator, still awaiting his opportunity to shine and patiently waiting behind the likes of England wingers Ryan Hall and Lee Smith plus the prolific Scott Donald.

“It’s another new experience,” admitted Jones-Bishop, having already scored a memorable try at Wembley in August.

“When you start out as a kid you want to play in these games.

“To get to a Challenge Cup final was special and this is on a par with that as well.

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“Because of the great success of the club, as a youngster I have been part of the squad during Grand Final week but only in the background.

“I was just sat in the stands and then celebrating with the boys after so it will be a really good feeling to be actually out there on the pitch come Saturday night.

“This will be my first time really playing a role in the team so I’m looking forward to it.”

There is no doubt Jones-Bishop has the potential to light up the stage and add his name to the pantheon of Grand Final heroes given some of his stellar performances this season.

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One of the most graceful runners in Super League, his pace and guile allied to some classic finishing skills, have made the Leeds-born player one of the most exciting talents in the game.

It is no coincidence that much of the Rhinos’ best form materialised around the same time as his return from a shoulder injury which frustratingly saw him miss four months of the campaign.

He has strengthened Leeds’s right-hand side both defensively and in terms of attacking quality to leave himself firmly in the reckoning for an England Four Nations place when Steve McNamara names his squad on Monday.

Jones-Bishop will be in direct opposition to someone else vying for a spot in that squad – prolific Saints winger Jamie Foster, the 21-year-old who has scored 22 tries and 129 goals this season to finish Super League’s leading points scorer.

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“This week the focus is on playing and playing well rather than England,” he said.

“But, obviously, if you‘re playing well and it’s the last big game of the year it’ll be the last thing maybe in the thought process of the person picking that squad.

“There are a lot of good young English players coming through at the moment.

“Playing in these games gives you a lot of confidence and experience while, playing in such a good team, you do gain a lot from the others around you.

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“Each week I try and be better than my opposite winger. I’ll be trying to be better than Foster this week.”

The experience Jones-Bishop has enjoyed most this season is the actual simple one of playing.

Elevated to the Rhinos first team squad in 2008, the former Queens ARLFC player debuted against Crusaders but managed only three more games and, the following campaign played just twice as he was thwarted by those aforementioned wingers and Kiwi full-back Brent Webb,

However, his loan move to Harlequins last season saw him plunder 11 tries from 18 matches and he returned finally ready to make his mark at Headingley Carnegie this term.

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“Just playing and being a part of it has been great, a real highlight,” he said.

“You grow up coming through the ranks and the club’s had great success which you always want to be involved with.

“The magnitude of the games as well has helped me. Those leading up to the Challenge Cup final and the play-off system – it’s the first time I’ve been involved in that – with such big and close games, it does give you confidence and enables you to take it onto the next week.

“Going into Saturday, we are confident and the camp has been good for all the play-off games.

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“We’ve just been building every match but realise we haven’t won anything yet.

“There’s still another 80 minutes to go.”

Leeds have made history by reaching Old Trafford from fifth, the first team to do so from outside the top three, and Jones-Bishop added: “We always believed we could get here.

“We’ve been up and down but when it’s 80 minutes in a one-off game we’re on a par with any team as we’ve proved to get to Old Trafford

“Saints are a class team who have made the final the last five years. We’ve shared great nights together and I’m sure this will be another.

“Hopefully, we’ll come out on top.”