A Wildcat Wake up call

Wakefield once again teach Widnes a lesson

So the big day finally arrived and Widnes are now a proper Super League club once again. Unfortunately for us, Wakefield spoiled the party and in the end ran out fairly comfortable winners. After the match, it was quite easy to be down about the result and the implications it would have for the rest of the season. However, a mixture of continued controversy over the I-pitch and other club's fortunes on the field has taken the focus off the result on Friday. Now the dust has settled and we have seen all the other teams in action the question remains,

What does the result mean for Widnes' season?

History repeating itself?  

One swallow doesn't make a summer. Let me take you back to the 24th February 2002 and it was Widnes' first ever game as a Super League club against Super League opposition albeit in the Challenge Cup. We once again faced Wakefield and it was televised on national TV. Despite being fairly big favourites and tipped to finish above Wakefield we were taught a lesson and lost a dire tussle 12-4. The feeling afterwards was much the same and fans inevitably over-reacted. However we all know what happened next and the Wakefield defeat ended up being one of the best things that could happen to us. The lesson we learnt from that defeat was that we had underestimated the challenge and subsequently we went on a great run and narrowly missed out on the playoffs. Friday night could hopefully prove to be a similar experience.


Maybe not...


That said, I think the manner of defeat was very different. Some Widnes fans after the match were off the opinion that our discipline cost us but I think that the issues were far more fundamental than that. It was evident from very early on that Wakefield were making better yards than us, running with more purpose and looked far more dangerous when they were attacking than we did. Most importantly perhaps we seemed to have little control at the ruck. We did still manage to go in in front and in reality did a very good job to do so but the Sky statistics at half time provided very ominous signs. We had dominated territory and the majority of the play had taken place in their half. The second half was always likely to see this evened up and so it proved. The difference in quality of the sides meant that they were better able to convert and ended up winning fairly comfortably.

All is not lost!


My original opinion was one of worry. Many people had tipped the wooden spoon race to be between us and Wakefield. Therefore the fear was that if we are comfortably behind Wakefield, how far behind Warrington, Wigan or Leeds must we be? Were we looking at a season similar to that 'enjoyed' by Leigh Centurions in 2004? We of course have players to come back, and in some pretty crucial positions, but we are always likely to have some players out and Wakefield seemed dominant in many areas.

However, as the weekend wore on there did appear to be some grounds for optimism. After enduring the dire clash between Salford and Castleford and then looking at subsequent results it started to look increasingly like Wakefield had been underestimated. They certainly looked much better than Salford and Bradford to name two other sides that had bad weekends. We are not likely to make the top 10 this year, but hopefully with those players back and once the players start to gel better we will at least be competitive and maybe not get the wooden spoon. I think this is all most Widnes fans would hope for this year.

You never know, Huddersfield on Sunday might see a repeat of our first away game in Super League in 2002 when we shocked the RL world by going in at half time 30-6 up against Castleford. We can but dare to dream!

Quick word on the I-pitch


As I stated earlier, the result seems to have been overshadowed by the continuing controversy with the I-pitch. Much of this has focussed on Richie Mathers and his knees but I'm not going to criticise him for his opinion. After all, he has played on it and we haven't.

What I will say is that times like this bring out the worst in many Rugby League supporters although it doesn't seem to take much these days. So many people seem to be willing for this new pitch to fail and have been willing to jump on anything that has been said about it, even continuing to blame a broken leg on the pitch despite reports to the contrary.

Like with many new innovations only time will tell and I'd be more inclined to believe that in 10 years time many clubs in SL will have a similar pitch and all this will be forgotten.