Sport In Profile UK Issue 02 | Page 82

WIDNES This season the team has made a positive start to their league campaign, having put together a record of 5 wins and 2 defeats from their 7 matches. This has left them sitting just behind the early pace setters with 26 points on the board. This should provide them with the perfect platform from which to build as they look ahead towards the rest of the season. So long as they are able to retain their current group of players and have some luck on the injury front they will have a good chance of mounting a title challenge. One of the highlights of the Widnes setup is the superb youth section that they have in place. This part of the club looks to provide young players from the local area with an opportunity to play the game in a safe and enjoyable environment whilst helping them to reach their full potential. It is important for any team to be able to produce their own talent, particularly in the current financial climate and this is an area that they appear to have covered. It will certainly be exciting to see how their juniors can develop over the coming years. In order to help their youngsters to make the sometimes difficult transition into the senior game they also have a number of additional sides. This allows them to give players experience of adult level rugby even if they are not yet considered ready for first team action. Another benefit of having so many sides is that it allows the first XV to benefit from far greater strength in depth. If they are ever left short on numbers through injury or work commitments they have the option of calling players up with a limited amount of disruption. Widnes’ positive start to the season should have the club filled with optimism for the coming months. Hopefully they will b