It’s one of Widnes’ most anticipated matches for several years as they welcome Warrington for a first competitive meeting in nearly seven years in the fourth round of the Challenge Cup.
Widnes have named their 21-man squad, which naturally doesn’t include any dual-registration players from Warrington, with Max Wood and Alfie Johnson likely to line-up against a side they have played in this season.
Jordan Johnstone and Lewis Hall are long-term absentees for Widnes, while Liam Kirk is also missing, having not featured since suffering a concussion against Toulouse.
There will be hope that Joe Edge can make a return for injury, and former St Helens youngster Brett Bailey is included for the first time.
For Warrington, they are without no fewer than five of their regular starting 13. Full-back Matt Dufty, winger Matty Ashton and centre Toby King are again missing having sat out the defeat to Wakefield, and they are joined on the sideline by Australian forward Luke Yates.
Lachlan Fitzgibbon is also sidelined, and young centre Arron Lindop misses out through concussion protocol.
The squad was confirmed before the new signing of half-back Marc Sneyd from Salford, so youngster Oli Leyland could partner George Williams in the halves. Speedy youngster Cai Taylor-Wray is likely to start at full-back, and could cause Widnes a lot of problems on the artificial pitch at the DCBL Stadium.
As of Thursday evening, more than 4,500 tickets had been sold for the match, which is the first competitive meeting between the two sides since 2018.
Widnes v Warrington squads
Widnes 21-man squad: Owens, Ince, Fleming, Edge, Butt, Lyons, Gilmore, Murray, Reilly, Lloyd, Langtree, Lannon, Fozard, Bent, Roberts, Gregson, Patton, Bennion, Bailey, Doolan, Williams.
Warrington 21-man squad: Crowther, Currie, Johnson, Harrison, Holroyd, Leyland, Musgrove, Philbin, Powell, Ratchford, Russell, Tai, Taylor-Wray, Jake Thewlis, Josh Thewlis, Thomas, Vaughan, Walker, Whitehead, Williams, Wood.
You can listen to the full preview of the Widnes v Warrington match in the latest Widnes Rugby Chat podcast below.
Player trivia
Jack Owens needs five points to reach 1,000 for Widnes. He has scored 83 tries, 331 goals and a drop goal in 186 appearances between 2011-2015 and 2019-2025 so far.
Danny Walker came through the Widnes academy and made 30 first-team appearances in 2017/18, before leaving to join hometown club Warrington following the Vikings’ relegation from Super League.
Dec Patton scored Warrington’s only try in their 2016 Super League Grand Final defeat to Wigan.
Rhys Williams scored 21 tries in 29 appearances for Warrington between 2010 and 2013, and currently has eight tries in five appearances for Widnes.
Joe Edge and Gavin Bennion both spent time at Warrington as youngsters, while Adam Holroyd was at Widnes before the academy was disbanded in 2019.
Tom Whitehead played twice for Widnes in 2024, featuring in the 1895 Cup games against Swinton and North Wales after starting the year as part of the Vikings squad.
Max Wood has made five appearances for Widnes on dual-registration from Warrington, including three this season.
Alfie Johnson made his professional rugby league debut for Widnes away at Toulouse in February, and marked his Warrington and Super League debut with a try against Wakefield last week.
Last 10 meetings
- Warrington 32, Widnes 18 (SLR8, 30/3/18)
- Widnes 10, Warrington 18 (SLR12, 16/2/18)
- Widnes 14, Warrington 28 (S8Q-R1, 4/8/17)
- Warrington 22, Widnes 6 (SLR23, 20/7/17)
- Warrington 34, Widnes 20 (CCR6, 14/5/17)
- Widnes 10, Warrington 19 (SLR9, 13/4/17)
- Warrington 30, Widnes 12 (SLS8-R5, 9/9/16)
- Warrington 20, Widnes 18 (CCQF, 24/6/16)
- Widnes 16, Warrington 48 (SLR12, 22/4/16)
- Warrington 28, Widnes 10 (SLR7, 25/3/16)
READ MORE: Memorable games between Widnes and Warrington in the summer era
Previous Challenge Cup meetings:
- 2017 (Round 6) Warrington 34 Widnes 20
- 2016 (Quarter Final) Warrington 20 Widnes 18
- 1991 (Quarter Final) Warrington 14 Widnes 26
- 1981 (Semi-Final) Warrington 9 Widnes 17 (at Central Park, Wigan)
- 1978 (Quarter Final) Warrington 6 Widnes 0
- 1976 (Quarter Final) Warrington 0 Widnes 6
- 1975 (FINAL) Warrington 7 Widnes 14 (at Wembley Stadium)
- 1973 (Round 2) Warrington 20 Widnes 8
- 1960 (Round 1) Widnes 14 Warrington 0
- 1950 (FINAL) Warrington 19 Widnes 0 (at Wembley Stadium)
Predictions
Widnes are rank outsiders with the bookies, competition sponsors Betfred going 11/1 for a home win, and 1/33 for Warrington to win through.
On the handicap, Widnes are being given a 27.5pt start. Warrington are the 5/1 third favourites to win the competition outright.
READ MORE: What to expect from Widnes’ Challenge Cup tie against Warrington
