WIDNES VIKINGS 12 LEEDS RHINOS 25
JAMES GORDON, DCBL Stadium, Saturday

A SOLO try by Riley Lumb with 15 minutes to go helped Leeds to finally break the resolve of Championship side Widnes and progress in the Challenge Cup.

The Vikings had kept themselves in the game thanks to Mike Butt’s second try that brought them back within six points.

But off some broken play Lumb searched for a gap, broke through from halfway and weaved his way to the try line to end any lingering chances of a major cup upset.

An under-strength Leeds side took the lead on seven minutes, making the most of a mistake by Matt Fleming, who dropped Brodie Croft’s kick right in to the path of young playmaker George Brown close to the line for the first of two debut tries.

That had come against the run of play in the early exchanges, with Widnes enjoying a spell of pressure on the Leeds line. The same followed after that opening try, but this time the hosts did manage to come away with something, Nathan Connell’s smart kick sitting up for Butt to race around on the right wing, and Jordan Abdull’s conversion levelling the score at 6-all.

It was perhaps a measure of Widnes’ performance in the game that Leeds opted to take a penalty-goal to nudge themselves back in front midway through the first half, after a high tackle by Morgan McWhirter on Brodie Croft.

But Leeds started to put the squeeze on the part-time hosts and twice had tries chalked off, both involving Ethan O’Neill, playing on his dad Julian’s old stomping ground and named at scrum-half on the team sheet. 

First he caught a kick and was judged to have knocked on in the act of scoring, and then he batted back a kick for Presley Cassell to score, only for referee Liam Moore to judge the ball had gone forward.

They did eventually get a second try, Croft pinpointing a tired defender to break through and put Danny Levi round the fullback for a debut try with virtually his first touch of the game, and the third quickly followed as Jarrod O’Connor broke through and found Brown for his second.

Leading by twelve points at the break, Leeds put the squeeze on Widnes at the start of the second half and the Vikings did well to keep them out – Ryan Ince tackling Ryan Hall into touch – and for a period the game was a stalemate with both teams contained in the middle third.

But Widnes found a flourish, Adam Lawton bursting through midfield and although his kick on was recovered by Lumb, a mistake off the next set gifted Widnes field position and from it, Abdull’s kick was knocked down to find Butt to score on 58 minutes.

With six points the difference, the home crowd sensed an opportunity but their bubble was burst when, after a scruffy offload in midfield, Lumb went looking and eventually found a way through to score.

Croft added a drop-goal with five minutes to play to make sure of the victory, and though Widnes retrieved the short kick-off, they couldn’t find any more points, hooker Matty Fozard twice held up over the line at the end of a valiant effort.

GAMESTAR: Ned McCormack showed plenty of running and vigour in the centres for Leeds.

GAMEBREAKER: With Widnes sensing an opportunity, Riley Lumb’s solo try broke their resolve and made sure of the cup tie.

MATCHFACTS

VIKINGS
23 Nathan Connell
2 Mike Butt
1 Matt Fleming
3 Jack Owens
5 Ryan Ince
6 Joe Lyons
22 Jordan Abdull
8 Dan Murray
9 Jordan Johnstone
21 Jay Chapelhow
12 Max Roberts
16 Danny Langtree
18 Morgan McWhirter
Subs (all used)
14 Matty Fozard
15 Lewis Hall
19 Adam Lawton
20 Jack Bibby

Tries: Butt (15, 58)
Goals: Abdull 2/2

RHINOS
27 George Brown (D)
5 Ryan Hall
24 Ned McCormack
3 Harry Newman
22 Riley Lumb
6 Brodie Croft
16 Ethan O’Neill (D)
8 Mikolaj Oledzki
9 Jarrod O’Connor
10 Tom Holroyd
11 Kallum Watkins
20 Presley Cassell
17 Cameron Smith
Subs (all used)
15 Cooper Jenkins
23 Danny Levi (D)
26 Tom Nicholson-Watton
28 Fergus McCormack (D)

Tries: Brown (7, 34), Levi (31), Lumb (66)
Goals: Watkins 4/5
Field-goals: Croft (75)

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 6-6, 6-8, 6-14, 6-18; 12-18, 12-24, 12-25

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Vikings: Morgan McWhirter; Rhinos: Ned McCormack

Penalty count: 4-6
Half-time: 6-18
Referee: Liam Moore
Attendance: 2,977