Widnes Vikings make the trip to Colwyn Bay this Sunday as they face North Wales Crusaders in the latest round of Betfred Championship action (3pm kick-off).
The Vikings returned to winning ways last weekend, running in 10 tries and keeping their opposition scoreless in a 52-0 victory away at Goole Vikings.
Allan Coleman’s side will travel to Wales this Sunday to face a Crusaders outfit that are winless in their previous nine outings.
🎟️ Ticket information
Tickets for Sunday’s game are available here.
📰 Squad news
Head coach Allan Coleman has named his 21-man squad ahead of this weekend’s trip to Colwyn Bay.
There are three changes in total following the recent 52-0 victory at Goole Vikings. In come Joe Edge, Kieran Taylor and Deacon Connolly, in place of Ryan Ince, Liam Bent and Jack Billington.
Our official 2026 squad news partner is Motorpoint Widnes!
🥊 The opposition
North Wales Crusaders currently sit bottom of the Betfred Championship, having won just three of their 17 matches so far this season.
The club was saved by the arrival of a new ownership group back in May, but were hit with a 12-point deduction as a result and now find themselves on -6, eight points adrift at the foot of the table.
And with a totally new-look group of players to choose from, the club have suffered some big defeats in recent weeks, including a 134-0 loss at home to league leaders London Broncos – the biggest defeat of any side in the top two divisions in the 131-year history of rugby league.
That result was one of three times the club have conceded more than 100 points, and over their last seven matches, they have conceded 92.57 points on average.
You have to go back to the end of March for the club’s last victory – a 52-20 win at home to Whitehaven.
North Wales Crusaders 21-man squad: Jamie Billsborough, Eoin Bowie, Joe Bradley, Brad Clavering, Bailey Dawson, Lewis Fairhurst, Will Fearnely, Ben Fisher, Lewis Holgate, Dom Horn, Kye Jacobson, Sam Littler, Ben O’Connell, Ollie Pollec, Trent Ruddy, Jimmy Shields, Connor Terrill, James Thornton, Stevie Watson, Matty Welham, Ralph Wood.
⏪ Record against North Wales Crusaders
It was against North Wales that the Vikings secured their first win of the 2026 Betfred Championship season, prevailing 28-14 at the DCBL Stadium at the start of February.
Their two previous meetings in the last decade-and-a-half both came in cup competition and were won by the Vikings.
In their history, the Vikings have played against different iterations of Crusaders on eight occasions, winning five times.
Last five meetings:
- Widnes 28-14 North Wales (Championship R2, 1/2/26)
- North Wales 20-26 Widnes (Challenge Cup R3, 9/2/25)
- North Wales 14-30 Widnes (1895 Cup R3, 18/2/24)
- Celtic Crusaders 38-6 Widnes (National League 1 R11, 26/6/08
- Celtic Crusaders 50-18 Widnes (Northern Rail Cup QF, 24/5/08)
🏉 Officials
The referee for this fixture is Josh Pemberton.
📲 Follow the game with the Vikings
Are you not going to be with us? You can keep updated with the Vikings’ official club coverage!
Vikings fans will be able to get full updates through our match coverage on our official X account – your hub to find out all the key news, including matchday line-ups, live game updates and post-game coverage.
