U18's at home this Saturday 20th August

[ceejay]

Widnes U18's play their penultimate game against close rivals St Helens, probably at the Wids, Heath Road, kick off listed as 2.30pm.

[John S]

This will be a very tough game and the last three games between these two have been settled by only a couple of points.

Widnes have injury problems and will face an in form Saints side which may contain Halton Hornets players facing their old team mates.

If Widnes play like they did in the first half at Hull and carry on that momentum in the second half then it should be another close game.  Get down to Heath Road for an entertaining game.

[efcviking]

Looking forward to watching a team who love playing for the shirt!

[mascoviking]

Saints scored right on half time and kicked the conversion to make it 8-10 to  Saints. We  have lead twice and looked pretty solid...teaming down now so that might have some impact on the test of the game.

[AB]

Got a text saying it ended up 14-16 to saints

[mascoviking]

That' s correct AB, a try apiece in the second half. We struggled for numbers and size with a few carrying knocks. Alex Brown didnt play the second half, after a knock to his head just before  H/T..and Alex Tague suffering the same fate a few mins into the second half. That said we had a few chances which we failed to capitilize on, and agonisingly lost to them by a mere 2 points again.

[John S]

I heard a couple of people say that this was one of the worst games they had seen---unbelievable.

Granted, it may have not been a free flowing game and at times, especially in the 2nd half, it was scrappy but there was an intensity there which only a local derby could muster.

Saints threw chances away and so did Widnes but there was some big hits, tough tackling and real commitment shown by all involved.  All in all--a good afternoon's entertainment.

[Ratboy]

Hopefully some of these youngsters get a chance in Superleague.

[ceejay]

Hopefully some of these youngsters get a chance in Superleague.

I would hope that they can get a full season playing in the SL U20's first before they get thrown into the cauldron that is going to be Super League.   Many of these are still well under 18 and will benefit the club far more playing in their next level up first.

[reg warner]

I would hope that they can get a full season playing in the SL U20's first before they get thrown into the cauldron that is going to be Super League.   Many of these are still well under 18 and will benefit the club far more playing in their next level up first.

I'm sure what you say will be the case..  To quote SOC from an article in last Monday's League Express "Danny Craven, Tom Gilmore and Jack Owens are players of tomorrow.  They aren't ready for next season.  We have a lot of impressive young halfbacks at the age of 16 or 17 but we won't be throwing these young lads in at the deep end.  We will pick our games."

[vikings 4 ever]

I agree about waiting for Owens and Gilmore, but players like Craven and Hulme are coming to the age where its make or break time really. Both of those players will be too old for the u20's (unless the SL u20's comp are allowed overage players in the team). Players like Owen at Cas, Westerman at Hull, Tomkins, Eastmond, Ratchford etc etc all came through to 1st team and playing regular before 21. IIRC both Owen and Westerman were both 16 when they were 1st team regulars for Cas in our division back in 2007 and injuries apart, they have been 1st teamers ever since. For what its worth I think Danny Hulme has really come on recently and has been one of the bright spots in a really poor season for us, but I think Craven has quite a lot of catching up to do. Thats not a criticism of Danny, but simply a fact that most young players who make it in SL have a lot more game time under their belts by his age. Its probably more of a criticsm of the club rather than the player. If the club don't think Craven is ready for Championship level, how can he go to SL standard in such a short space of time? The dual contract system shows how much SL clubs value young players learning their trade in the Championship. We're happy to develop the next Tomkins for Wigan, but reluctanct to try our own - it just doesn't make sense. Similarly we have released Dave Houghton, but also not given him the chance to show what he can do. We're more prepared to play a completely unfit Danny Sculthorpe + Wigan's Crosby before Houghton.

Since we were rejected in 2008 we've had 3 years to develop and nurture players so that going into SL we would at least have some homegrown players ready. To date only Hulme has managed to hold down a place - and even he wasn't considered ready for 1st team action this season+ only broke into the team due to injuries. IMO we've held back too much on the youth development + far more players got their chance last year compared to this - even though we knew we were guaranteed to be in SL and the club go on so much about youth development. What the club say and what they do seem to be 2 entirely different things. The club are aware of the club trained rules aren't they? I would very much hope that the club trained players in the 1st team squad are going to be active members of the team + not just passengers to make up the numbers.

[rugby11]

Danny Craven still only 19 so can play SL 20's next year, thought the game was a bit of an arm wrestle yesterday, bit of a forwards game, not the usual flair and widnes lack 2 good half backs no direction and to many pointless kicks and wasted first half pressure. Granted it was a local derby so could have added to silly mistakes.

[ceejay]

Danny Craven still only 19 so can play SL 20's next year, thought the game was a bit of an arm wrestle yesterday, bit of a forwards game, not the usual flair and widnes lack 2 good half backs no direction and to many pointless kicks and wasted first half pressure. Granted it was a local derby so could have added to silly mistakes.

The majority of the kicks gained at least 40 to 50 yards each time and turned their wings and fullback allowing the chasers to get tackle them in their own 25.   One kick was a 40/20 and two others only missed being 40/20's by a yard or two.     We blew at least three tries through poor passes but Saints did as well so even SL teams are not perfect.   

People tend to forget that Danny Craven missed over half the season after having his shoulder injury and has only just started playing again.   He, along with Danny Hulme will, i am sure get their chances next season.   

[rugbyleaguemad]

The majority of the kicks gained at least 40 to 50 yards each time and turned their wings and fullback allowing the chasers to get tackle them in their own 25.   One kick was a 40/20 and two others only missed being 40/20's by a yard or two.     We blew at least three tries through poor passes but Saints did as well so even SL teams are not perfect.   

People tend to forget that Danny Craven missed over half the season after having his shoulder injury and has only just started playing again.   He, along with Danny Hulme will, i am sure get their chances next season.   

Tend to agree the kicks worked in the the first half of the game, second half of the game could not understand why we kicked on the 2nd or 3rd tackle, the forwards where making progress up the field, the forwards where the outstanding players in this tough encounter, the backs did not shine in any way during the second half. Credit to both teams the game could have gone either way.

[Coachdriver]

 sorry for late comments about last weeks match been on hols , thought the game was a cracker with both sides playing hard and effective rugby with such intensity the errors being forced upon from both teams . i would say the match was referred very fair and strict probably the best we've seen this year . hope the lads keep up the performances for the last match next sunday . good luck .