Injury-plagued Sculthorpe looks on way back

The brother of former St Helens and Great Britain captain Paul Sculthorpe has not played a competitive match for 16 months after a debilitating injury that cost him his contract with Bradford.

But the 31-year-old will begin training with the Vikings in the hope of securing a deal before the start of the Championship season in March.

"Danny starts training with us today, although he's not available to play until the end of next month," said Widnes coach Denis Betts.

"It's good to have Danny on board. He's a great talent. I think he's got something to prove. He's spent a couple of years getting over injuries and not playing a lot.

"But he's in very good shape. It's a credit to Danny that he went out and got his own physio and hopefully it will work out for him."

Sculthorpe, who has also featured with Castleford and Wakefield, was released by Bradford at the end of last season without playing a match for them following a horrific chain of events which saw him hospitalised on three separate occasions for a total of seven weeks.

He caught an aberrant infection following a standard back operation last January and what should have been a lay-off of a few weeks turned into an ongoing drama that wrecked his move to Odsal.

The infection spread into his blood, causing septicaemia and serious complications for the player – made worse by the fact he is an insulin-dependent diabetic – and he lost nearly two stones in weight. Sculthorpe's last match was during a loan spell with Huddersfield towards the end of the 2009 season.

Former Australia Test forward Craig Fitzgibbon has replaced Sean Long as Hull FC captain after the veteran scrum-half stood down admitting he wants to concentrate on his playing performance.

England winger Ryan Hall plays for Leeds Rhinos in a friendly against Crusaders this evening, allaying fears he would miss the start of the season due to a leg injury.