Widnes strengthen the ties that bind two brothers

The brothers Hulme try to break Wigan's hold on rugby league's Challenge Cup today. Dave Hadfield spoke to them

They might not like to think of themselves in quite this way, but the Hulme brothers of Widnes are walking museum pieces. When they play for their home-town club against Wigan in the quarter-final of the Silk Cut Challenge Cup today, David and Paul will be the remaining link with the era in which Widnes and not Wigan were the real power in the land.

"He's definitely a relic, because he's a lot older than me," insists Paul, who will be his usual hyperactive self at loose forward in this most demanding of cup ties.

In fact, there is little more than two years between two players whose uncompromising style on the field has earned them the soubriquet of rugby league's brothers Grimm. David has just turned 31, while Paul will be 29 next month.

Having both joined Widnes straight from school and never having played anywhere else, they seem to have been around for much longer. "And with so many players leaving over the last few years, it has become more and more important to have a couple of experienced players around," David says.

The importance of the Hulmes in holding things together during trying times at Naughton Park can hardly be overstated. In sides packed with the likes of Jonathan Davies and Martin Offiah, it might have been easy to type-cast them as the willing drudges; however, they are now the very heartbeat of the team.

Although he has played for both club and country at stand-off and has frequently filled in at loose forward, David has been restored to his specialist position of scrum-half this season. With his seniority, he could be tempted to assume that such is his due. "But I've never counted on staying in one position," he says. "Circumstances could change and they might need me somewhere else. I've always been pretty flexible."

Despite his achievements, which include eight caps for Great Britain, the elder Hulme brother takes an unpretentious view of his qualities as a player.

"I've always been a worker and a team player, and that's what I'll be remembered for, rather than any skills. I never had the ability of someone like Andy Gregory."

What he omits to say is that he is precisely the sort of committed and consistent performer that more obviously gifted players relish having alongside them. His value in the outstanding Widnes sides of a few years ago was frequently underrated. In the more moderate teams striving for a glimpse of past glories over the last couple of seasons, it has been all too obvious.

There have been times when he has contemplated leaving Widnes. John Monie once tried to sign him for Wigan, liking the idea of turning him into a hooker.

"But I've no regrets about staying here. I've always worked as well as played rugby, and I like being able to finish training and get home in 10 minutes."

The Hulme brothers are close by any standards, although the fact that their telephone numbers only differ by one digit is, they say, a coincidence.

"I looked up to him as a youngster because he was much, much older than me - and I think you should mention that," says Paul, another player whose entire approach to the game exemplifies the transition from glory to graft at Naughton Park.

A fierce terrier of a player, who has applied his combative style to playing scrum-half as well as hooker, second-row and loose forward, Paul Hulme gives the impression of a chunkier version of his elder brother. Unlike him, however, he is not entirely comfortable with his popular image as one of rugby league's dogs of war.

"I'd like to be remembered as somebody who played some pretty good football, not just for making a lot of tackles," he says. And, even more than David, he yearns for a return to the glory days of years gone by. "I want more than to be just competing every week," he says. "I want Widnes to be going for glory again. If you cannot do that, you might as well just wrap up."

If you delve far enough back into Widnes's history, home-grown players like the Hulmes were at one time the rule rather than the exception. They once won the Challenge Cup with only one player born outside the town in their side.

Significantly, however, neither of the brothers sees such a narrowing of horizons as being the answer to the club's needs in the future.

"Quality players are quality players wherever you get them from," David says. "The game is more cosmopolitan now and you can't just rely on your own area."

For all that, much of the new hope at Naughton Park springs from the development of young players who, while not necessarily born within scenting range of ICI, are acquired young and cheaply.

Both are encouraged by the rapid progress of players such as Gary Broadbent, who has filled the gap at full-back left by Stuart Spruce's injury with astonishing assurance. "When he first trained with the first team, we didn't know who he was," Paul says, "but he has done remarkably well."

David makes the valid point that young players develop so quickly and impressively at Wigan because they are surrounded from the start by so much experience and ability. That is one reason why Widnes may be able to bridge the gap between themselves and Wigan this afternoon.

"But people tend to forget that it is less than two years since we played them at Wembley, in a match that we could and should have won," says Paul. "And somebody has to beat them eventually."