Wakefield Trinity Wildcats: Coach Smith won't put Owen's rehab' at risk

Owen was among the try scorers for a Wildcats select side in a trial game win over Dewsbury Rams reserves.

It was his first game since last August, when he suffered a badly broken leg in Wakefield’s Super-8s Qualifiers victory against Bradford Bulls.

“He played and played well,” Smith said of Owen, who also broke a leg playing for his previous club Castleford Tigers against Bradford in 2010.

“Richard is on a long road back and it will be a while before he gets to Super League standard, but it was fantastic for him to be back playing.”

Mickael Simon also made his comeback from injury and Smith said: “He was outstanding. Chris Annakin and Tom Johnstone also played and they figured highly.”

Wakefield are in action at Hull KR on Sunday, despite other clubs having a break to accommodate the World Club Series. The trip to East Yorkshire has been brought forward from First Utility Super League round 11, when Wildcats and Hull KR will both be involved in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

Nick Scruton is a possible doubt for this weekend’s game after suffering concussion in the loss at Castleford two days ago, but Smith said his team came through otherwise unscathed.

He added: “We went there to compete hard and we achieved that, but not for nearly long enough.

“We started quite brightly, but there was a string of penalties against us towards the end of the first half and we didn’t get a lot of ball.

“Cas are in good form and they were too good for us in the end.”