Oldham chance for Rigby

TWO bright young prospects formerly with Widnes Vikings have thrown their caps into the Roughyeds ring.

One of them, 21-year-old Tom Rigby, trained with the first-team squad last night and will play in the Oldham side to take on Rochdale Hornets in Monday’s Law Cup clash at Whitebank (3pm kick-off).

A utility back, Rigby has been training with Roughyeds’ reserves for the past three weeks.

He has impressed coach Paul Ashton and it is on his recommendation that Rigby will be given an early opportunity to catch the eye of head coach Tony Benson.

Rigby and his ex-Widnes team mate Jack Reid, who is also training with Ashton’s squad, were regular members of the Vikings under-23s side which finished top of the Reserves Championship last season.

Oldham, who were second, were the only team to beat them all season and they did it three times — away in the league and in the play-offs and at Whitebank 29-24 in the play-off final.

Rigby, a close friend of Oldham's young forward Alex Thompson, played on the left wing for Widnes in that final, while Reid turned out at loose-forward.

“They are both good players,” said Ashton. “Reid, who can also play stand-off and hooker, has been with us for a while, but Rigby only joined us three weeks ago.”

Benson has confirmed that Rigby will get his chance in the Law Cup game, but he won’t finalise his squad until tomorrow so it isn’t yet known whether the new boy will figure at centre, full-back or wing.

“Rigby comes highly recommended by Ashy,” said Benson. “I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do. It’s important that each of the club’s three teams and each of the coaches work closely together to provide a pathway for players to move up through the ranks."

With this in mind Benson plans to involve Ashton as part of his game-day coaching team throughout the coming season.