Wolves Take on Wolves
Crewe Wolves v Chester Wolves Sunday 9th September KO: 12:30PM Chester and Crewe will compete today to see who is top Wolf. Both teams compete in the Northern Conference of the Summer Conference. Chester Wolves have just completed their fourth season in the Rugby League Conference, while Crewe have completed their third. Chester finished second this season while Crewe finished fourth in the Northern Conference. Chester was formed in 1998 with the initial support from Warrington Wolves. In their first season they won through to the play off stages, going out in the semi-finals to South Norfolk. In 1999 they went all the way and were narrowly defeated Crawley Jets in a Classic Final at White Hart Lane. In the last two seasons they have missed out on the play off's by the loss of one game. Crewe were very impressive in the season just gone, a much improved outfit. This season Crewe have seen new players and a new assistant coach, Bob Arnold come on board. They were named most improved team out of the 30 teams involved in the Summer Conference across the divisions. Both clubs have steadily drawn on players from the non-traditional Rugby League areas where previously they only played Rugby Union. Two players from Chester who have regularly featured in the Wolves Alliance team are Rob Barraclough (now with Swinton) and Matt Bellamy. Crewe is based at Sandbach Rugby Union Club and is a side of mixed experience, under the strong captaincy of Rob Hall. They are a relatively young side who promises to be devastating in 2002. Their aim is to finish Top 3 next season. Chester junior rugby league has just completed their second season. It is hoped that in future years these juniors will be the backbone of rugby league in the area. It is the responsibility of the Chester club and Rugby League in general to ensure that their enthusiasm is maintained and rewarded. This can be said of both clubs, with Crewe seeing a massive surge in their junior development with a hundred children from the area taking part this season. Junior Development squads have been created to encompass U13s, U14s and U15s. Five schools from the Crewe and Sandbach area have ensured interested and seen the club compete in several tournaments this season, playing well.
07, Sep, 2001
