A BARNSLEY rugby player has died following a motorbike accident just two weeks after proposing to his girlfriend.

Lee Pocklington, 24, and his "soul mate" Sarah Wood were happily making plans for a 2010 wedding in Antigua .

He was riding his Kawasaki Ninja bike outside his parents' home on Rookdale Close, Pogmoor, on Sunday, to try to recharge the battery.

Mum Joan, 52, said he was thrown from the bike suffering serious head injuries after the back wheel wobbled. Police confirmed he wasn't wearing a crash helmet.

The first team player for Barnsley Rugby Club, known affectionately as Pocko, was taken to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield but never regained consciousness and died on Wednesday.

Joan and Lee's dad Steve, 48 and younger brother Craig, 21, paid tribute to a lad who "lived and enjoyed his life".

Joan said: "He loved work, his job, he loved us and his girlfriend. But he also loved his rugby, he was a really sporty person. What can you say? You just don't think this is going to happen.

"You can ask anybody and they didn't have a bad word to say about him, that's why it is so tragic."

While Lee, an engineer of Corporation Street, Barnsley, was dangerously ill in hospital, Craig bought two identical silver chains and crosses engraved with the words brother, RIP, and Lee's date of birth.

Craig will wear one and the other will be put round Lee's neck before the funeral. Sarah, 25, also bought him an engagement ring while he was in hospital which she placed on his ring finger.

His family have made the heartbreaking decision to donate his organs for transplant.