ST HELENS coach Ian Millward has defended his decision to throw Leigh schoolboy Scott Moore into the crucial end-of-season Super League clashes following the intervention of the Rugby Football League.
Moore, who left Westleigh High this summer, became the youngest-ever Super League debutant at 16 years and 213 days when he appeared at scrum-half in Saints' 27-18 derby defeat at Wigan last Friday.
Moore displaced previous-record holder, Leigh's John Duffy, who was 16 years and 262 days when he made his first senior appearance for Warrington in 1997, and will make his home debut against Huddersfield on Friday.
Saints needed permission from the League's performance department to play Moore, who has only been training full-time with the club since the school holidays started, and they have been warned not to over-play him.
"We've had a call from the League saying don't overuse him, but I'm the head coach and I wouldn't use him if I didn't think it was right," said Millward.
Scott is the grandson of Albert Moore, a threequarter who played for Leigh in the mid-Fifties
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