Widnes provide injury update on skipper Jack Owens and others

James Gordon
Simon Finnigan

Photo: Simon Whitehead/News Images

Widnes skipper Jack Owens and stand-off Danny Craven could return for Monday night’s Championship clash with Barrow.

Owens, 27, is yet to feature this season, while Craven picked up a knock in the win over Halifax.

Prop Owen Farnworth may also come into contention as his recovery from a foot injury continues, the club confirmed in an injury update on their official website.

A return for Owens would be timely as his understudy Lloyd Roby was injured in the 38-4 cup defeat to Leigh.

Roby has stood in at full-back all season, scoring two tries in the win at Dewsbury, but hobbled off with a leg injury.

He initially played on after receiving the knock but didn’t return for the second half, despite doing work with conditioner Bob Beswick during the half-time break.

The club say he will be assessed by medical staff throughout the week and he could still be available for the Barrow game.

Winger Ollie Brookes also picked up an injury against Leigh, a hamstring injury that will more than likely keep him out of the Barrow game.

Prop Levy Nzoungou, yet to make his Widnes debut, is still out after suffering a lower leg injury in training last week.

He was part of the squad against Halifax a few weeks ago, warming up as 18th man.

Winger Ryan Ince (concussion) and forward Liam Bent (back) will be available for selection, but Kenny Baker is suspended.

Bouncing back

After starting the Championship season with four consecutive wins, Widnes were brought back down to earth by a commanding Leigh display on Monday night.

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Vikings coach Simon Finnigan was asked post-match about whether the likes of Owens and Craven being in the team would have made a difference.

He told Premier Sports: “It’s about what’s on the field. We could say that about the weeks before we’ve had them players missing and we’ve still done a good job.

“We went in to the game with the 17 we picked and I’ll be honest, I thought we could win.

“It wasn’t about the players that didn’t play. I’m not sure they would have made a difference, we still had a good enough team to put a performance on, Leigh were just better than us.

“I thought Leigh played as good as they’ve played all season. We’re disappointed because we’re out the cup, but we’ll focus now on Barrow on Monday.”

Championship Danny Craven

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