WE should be grateful for all those volunteers who helped shift the snow from the pitch on Sunday and made the first friendly of the year playable.

After kicking our heels for more than three months, it would have bitterly disappointing to have had this one called off.

True, it was only a friendly.

But I think some of the chatter afterwards, particularly about Theo Fages, showed why these games are important.

Aside from the volunteers and Fages display, I thought the other highlight was the vocal encouragement from the Dewsbury travelling fans.

I am not sure if it was the weather to be taking your shoes off and waving them in the air ‘if you hate Batley’, although they probably had the benefit of Heavy Woollen socks.

However, the Rams support certainly made it feel more of a game than a training run – and the team responded.

Sunday’s encounter with Widnes will step it up again.

It is not just a derby, it is one Saints need to break certain physical barriers ahead of the Super League start against Huddersfield.

It is also for a piece of silverware.

Yes, it is only a friendly and Saints will be after much more significant pots than this in 2016.

But anything with Vince Karalius’ name on is worth playing for.

When I was a kid, aged about seven, my head was still full of jolly robins, Leeds United, T-Rex and Slade.

The only rugby league names that really permeated my skull in those formative sporting years were Tom van Vollenhoven, Alec Murphy, Kel Coslett and Vinty Karalius.

I was brought up on tales of the Wild Bull of the Pampas, the man from Widnes, of Lithuanian mining stock, who put the fear of God into the Aussies.

Karalius was as hard as nails as a player - and daft enough to jump off the old transporter bridge over the Mersey for a bet.

He lifted the Challenge Cup for both teams, being part of that first Saints team to win at Wembley in 1956, skippering them to glory beneath the twin towers five years later.

And three years after that Vinty lifted the prestigious old pot in the black of white of Widnes.

It is brilliant that this match helps keep alive the name of this rugby league legend and Hall of Famer.

Although it is a friendly, I reckon both sides should take a tip from the Wild Bull and make it a physical game to warm the cockles ahead the real Super League business to come.

And as an aside, isn’t it great that we are still stocking our Saints team with great Widnesians! We’ve had plenty over the years, Alan Prescott, George Nicholls, Peter Glynn, Bobbie Goulding and now Mark Percival - all players of quality.