5:05pm Wednesday 8th July 2009
More Vikings Cup Final news here
PAUL Cullen is looking to his beefed up pack to reward Vikings’ resurgence with cup glory in Blackpool on Sunday.
Semi final success at Halifax and a run of five wins in six games points to Vikings going into the Northern Rail Cup Final against Barrow having put their form in order.
Vikings lost a home league game 27-6 to the Cumbrians two months ago and Cullen is banking on his side having learned some important lessons en route to meeting them again in front of 4,000 travelling fans at Bloomfield Road, kick off 5.15pm, And with pack stars Jim Gannon and Iain Morrison, along with half back James Webster and winger Dean Gaskell, all expected to return after being rested against Doncaster at the weekend, Vikings are ready to battle for the silverware and a tick on their next Super League application form.
Wary of the occasion’s importance, emotion and excitement, Cullen has deliberately put his players through their usual routines this week to prevent them from ‘getting carried away’ and to make sure they are ‘ready for a fight not a party’.
“This is about taking on a very tough and formidable Barrow pack who have already given us a good hiding in front of our own fans this season,” said Cullen, who is in his first final as a coach.
“I expect Barrow to line up as tough and as physical, if not more so, than they were last time.
“They were 6ft 2ins tall and bullet proof when they came to our stadium not so long ago.
“We knew about it physically and we knew about it when it came to the rough stuff.
“The dark arts of rugby league set about us and got among one or two of our players and rattled them, as did Halifax in the two victories they had over us prior to the semi final.
“Hopefully, some lessons have been learned.”
Cullen feels his side is now in a better position to cope with a Barrow pack that could include Widnesian Paul Noone and former Vikings loan player Andy Bracek.
Size “We’ve put some size to the pack and I’ve been led to believe that size does matter, and it’s very evident in a game of rugby league,” he said.
“Our pack is a different pack from last time out.
“Jim Gannon and Mark Smith have got some help and assistance these days.
“That’s not just Steve Pickersgill and Jon Grayshon (ineligible for this game), but Iain Morrison’s return to full fitness has been a big help to that.
“Richard Fletcher coming back to something like full fitness and even Richard Varkulis changing from three-quarters into the back row has given us a real lift, too.”
Widnes will need their sliding defence to be working at its best to cope with Barrow’s three-quarter threat on the back of the go-forward.
Barrow’s leading try scorer James Nixon has struck up a strong centre partnership with Liam Harrison and Cullen has highlighted the danger of half back Liam Finch working on their inside.
Cullen said: “In the semi final, Halifax poured down the right-hand channel trying to run over the top of James Webster and then shifted across field to try to catch out our other half back Anthony Thackeray on the edge.
“That’s what Halifax tried and failed.
“We expect Barrow to try and do the same. We still know that they’ll do some work in the middle of the field because that’s the way that Brett McDermott plays the game and he only knows one way - right up your guts.
“The bigger threat I think that Barrow have is Liam Finch pushing hard on the inside.
“The man has great pace, a great change of pace, and any ball that comes back on the inside he opens up.
“It’s not just the shift across to Liam Harrison, you’ve got to be wary of Finch on the inside of him as well.
“It’s something that we’ve worked very hard on since the last time Barrow exploited us in that situation.
“We slid well against Halifax and we know we’ll have to do the same against Barrow.”
Cullen believes the approach used in the lead-up to the semi final is crucial again.
“It’s about keeping your composure and bringing your A game,” he said.
“That was the big talk of the week leading up to Halifax. You’ve got to be the best you can be on the day.
“If we hadn’t have been, Halifax could have nicked that game at the end when I thought we had dominated for most of it.”
And it falls back to the preparation being right for each player to achieve their ‘A’ game.
“By the time the game comes around, you’re almost psyching down as opposed to psyching up,” he said.
“You don’t want to be going into the game over agitated or over excited.
“You’ve got to try and hit that ideal performance zone and that is about being ready.
“Our preparation indicates that we’re heading in the right direction when it comes to that.
“If you consider our last four or five victories, we’re getting it right for game day.”
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.runcornandwidnesworld.co.uk