Magic Weekend curtain raiser for Scorpions

Correspondent

South Wales Scorpions will be taking on Warrington Wolves‘ under 20 side in a glamorous friendly match at Cardiff Arms Park on Friday 11th February, the night before Millennium Magic returns to the Welsh capital (kick-off 7.30pm).

Rugby League will be at the heart of the Cardiff that weekend as Engage Super League XVI launches with Warrington Wolves‘ first team first up against Huddersfield Giants at 1pm on the Saturday 12th February.

With thousands of fans from Warrington and all the other Super League clubs expected in Cardiff over that weekend, the Scorpions hope that a number of them will come early to watch this exciting curtain raiser to the Super League season.

Warrington Wolves‘ first team are first up in Millennium Magic when they take on Huddersfield Giants at 1pm on the Saturday 12th February.

However the side that they put out against the Scorpions should include a number of players with Super League experience and could include, if not selected for the first team the next day, Welsh-born sets of brothers Rhys and Gavin Williams or Rhys and Ben Evans.

Scorpions coach Aled James said: “By February 11th we’ll be over a month into our training and the match against Warrington will be a big test for us. All of their side will be players from a Super League environment and even if some of them haven’t yet played for the first team, they’ll all be formidable opponents.

“It’ll be good preparation for us for a tough Championship 1 campaign and we hope the South Wales and Rugby League public will come out in earnest for what will be an exciting encounter.”

Richard Marshall, Warrington Wolves‘ under 20s coach said: “When we received the call about this fixture inviting us to go down there to promote the game in South Wales we thought it an innovative idea to play that weekend when all fans are in the city for the opening round of Super League.

“With the help and support of Squadbuilder we will use this game as part of our preparation for the under 20s league. The players are really looking forward to it. We are looking to base ourselves down there for the weekend and prepare as per a first team fixture.”

It will be the first Rugby League match to take place at Cardiff Arms Park for over 14 years. Wales took on England there in 1996 while the old South Wales team also played five matches at the famous old ground in the same season.