WHEN a fixture clash was thrown in front of Warrington Wolves’ women’s side for today, it could have presented a problem.

Instead, however, they sensed an opportunity.

The Wire’s unbeaten Betfred Women’s Super League side will take on Bradford Bulls at Victoria Park this afternoon looking to make it six wins out of six in Group Two.

However, they are also to compete in the Women’s Nines Finals Day at Salford’s AJ Bell Stadium having been awarded a wildcard following an unbeaten group stage campaign.

Rather than move their league fixture or pull out of the Nines tournament, however, they will send a group of promising young players from their burgeoning academy set-up to compete in Salford while the first team fulfils the league fixture.

Warrington Guardian:

Two wins and a draw in their three group stage fixtures saw Warrington Wolves offered a wildcard into the Women's Nines finals. Picture by SWPix.com

“To play in both in one day is a bit special for the club in terms of us having the capacity and the quality to do it,” women’s head coach Lee Westwood said.

“We played in the Nines competition and got the wildcard to the Finals as we were unbeaten.

“With Castleford dropping out of the top group in the Super League, it gave an extra weekend’s fixtures in our group.

“We had to find some availability to play those fixtures but all the weekend dates were booked up.

“We saw it as a great opportunity to showcase what we’re doing with our under 19s and academy teams, which are absolutely booming.

“It gives those girls an opportunity to experience playing with some of the Super League girls in the Nines as well as enabling us to field a good side in the league.

“The chance for those young girls to get the experience was too much to turn away and I’m excited to see how they go on.”

A squad of 17 players will head to Salford for the Nines, in which Wire will play Group B matches against Catalans Dragons (12pm) and York City Knights (12.50pm).

The top two sides in each group – the other pool contains St Helens, Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants – advancing to the semi-finals.

“They will get a lot of positives out of it and will be competitive, which is all I want them to be,” Westwood said.

“They’ve earned the right through training to play in the Nines.

“Eventually, we want these girls to end up in our Super League side and they’re not far off. It gives them a good chance to showcase where they’re at.

“We want to bring our own players through and this is a great start.”

The Super League clash with Bradford kicks off at 2pm at Victoria Park as Westwood’s side look to take another big step towards promotion to Group One for 2023.