Burgess hides family tragedy

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Mark Burgess, a forward with Dewsbury, Hunslet and Nottingham, lost his long battle with motor neurone disease on Thursday night at the age of 45.

Luke, whose younger brother Sam plays for Bradford, is on loan from Leeds.

He kept his anguish from his new team-mates as he made his first appearance for Harlequins in their win over Catalans in the opening match of the Millennium Magic weekend in Cardiff.

McDermott said: "He made a call to play and he won't make too many bigger calls in his career.

"I reckon his dad would be over the moon with him.He handled himself like a really mature bloke.

"The players didn't know and they wouldn't have suspected either. He has done a hell of a job."

Harlequins also gave a debut to a second Leeds academy product, Joe Walsh, after the late withdrawal of Matt Gafa, who went over on his ankle in the warm-up.

After captain Rob Purdham's goalkicking helped Quins to victory, McDermott added: "Henry Paul is out injured and it looks like we've got another world-class kicker. It had a huge effect on the result."

Catalans coach Mick Potter disputed the match-winning try, claiming Chad Randall scored from a forward pass. "I will be looking at the video very closely," he said.