Vikings battle
● Widnes stand-off Joe Lyons on his first-team debut attempts to get the better of Leeds hooker Matt Parcell. ● Second-row Tom Olbison scores Widnes’s only try against Leeds. WIDNES VIKINGS ........................ 6 LEEDS RHINOS ........................... 16
WIDNES put in a spirited effort but a lack of cutting edge cost them dear as they went down 16-6 to Leeds Rhinos in the Betfred Super League Qualifiers at the Select Security Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
In many aspects of the encounter, the Vikings looked to have the better of their illustrious Yorkshire opponents.
Francis Cummins’s men had little problem coming out of yardage for most of the match and enjoyed some concerted spells of pressure on the Leeds line.
However, they simply could ● not engineer enough clear cut opportunities to take advantage.
Ultimately, it was the Rhinos who outscored Widnes by three tries to one despite living off scraps at times.
Speaking after the match, Cummins said: “It shows we can do this. I truly believe we can win our last three games and then let’s see what happens.
“I’m frustrated we didn’t get the win but we never shirked anything. We were in it all the way to the end. Today I saw the team that practices every day.
“The level of effort and commitment was fantastic because it’s not been there for a while.
“This isn’t the toughest defeat I’ve had to take. The toughest ones are when you come away thinking half your players haven’t turned up.”
Widnes gave a Super League debut to Academy product Joe Lyons at stand-off where he partnered the experienced Liam Finn in the halves. Skipper Joe Mellor dropped back to full-back to accommodate the youngster.
Kiwi prop-forward Charlie Gubb played his second game for the club operating from the bench while front-rower Jay Chapelhow was back in harness.
Lanky winger Owen Buckley was also given a recall.
It looked like two evenlymatched if somewhat gun-shy sides going head-to-head early in the contest. A Lyons kick forced a goalline drop-out but an error in the next set of six represented a missed opportunity.
Leeds had their spells of pressure in Vikings’ territory also but where similarly lacking in attacking cohesion when it mattered.
Widnes thought they had opened the scoring but Mellor’s pass to put Buckley over was adjudged forward.
It took until the 33rd minute for the scoreboard operators to be troubled and unsurprisingly the try came from an error.
A misplaced Widnes pass in the Leeds ‘20’ saw ex-Vikings Richie Myler scoop up the loose ball. Realising he did not have the pace to go all the way himself, Myler handed the ball on to