Briers boost for Wolves

If Warrington and Widnes are the two outsiders best equipped to break into Super League's top six – as some in the Cheshire borderlands believe – then this evening's meeting at Wilderspool should provide a good guide to their rival claims.

Warrington were making reasonable progress this season until they were taken apart in the first half at St Helens last time out. "Not many teams would have competed with them in that form," said the Warrington coach, Paul Cullen. "Our whole season could have run away from us, but we fought back manfully."

For what he describes as a battle for the middle ground, Cullen has three important players who missed that game back in his squad today – Ian Sibbit, Sid Domic and, crucially, Lee Briers. When Briers does not play, the Wolves tend not to either, so his recovery from shoulder and shin injuries could be pivotal.

Widnes, on a run of three victories, could start with Ryan Sheridan for the first time since his recovery from a debilitating illness. That would enable Julian O'Neill – whose arrival from Wigan has triggered a revival of sorts for Wigan – to move to loose forward in place of Simon Finnigan, who has a fractured elbow. Stuart Spruce is also expected to return at full-back.

In tomorrow's only Super League game, Huddersfield hope to build on their encouraging form against the London Broncos. They will have Anthony Colella and Jim Gannon back in their pack after injury.

The Broncos expect to be unchanged, although their Lancashire winger, Dom Peters, could begin to play his way back to full match fitness by turning out for their neighbours, the London Skolars.

Whitehaven will be looking for their first win of the National League One season against Hull KR tomorrow, with the help of Carl Sice, the hooker newly signed from their neighbours, Workington Town.

Workington, who are at Hunslet in a National League Two fixture today, have had three applications for their vacant coaching post – two local and one from Australia.

Today also sees the launch of National League Three – a mixture of amateur clubs from the game's heartlands and from development areas – and the start of a new season in the much-expanded TotalRL.com Conference.

That competition, so important in spreading the game to new horizons, includes a new Welsh division, which will benefit from the involvement of former rugby league professionals like John Devereux, Kevin Ellis and Allan Bateman.

The Russian club, Strela Kazan, have been installed as favourites for the York International Nines in June, after being given a week off from their domestic competition in order to represent their country.