Widnes 16-28 Huddersfield: Giants make flying start

The Giants fell behind to an early Charly Runciman try but recovered to lead 20-6 at half-time with Jermaine McGillvary crossing twice before the break with Lee Gaskell and Tom Symonds also touching down.

Aaron Murphy and new skipper Leroy Cudjoe added second half tries in what was a polished performance.

Widnes boss Denis Betts opted to start with centre Chris Bridge partnering Tom Gilmore at half back in the absence of last season's pairing of injured Joe Mellor and Warrington recruit Kevin Brown.

The Vikings were missing suspended Manase Manuokafoa and injured Chris Dean, Eamon O'Carroll, Jack Buchanan and Alex Gerrard.

Huddersfield handed a debut off the bench to Australian prop Shannon Wakeman, the close season capture from Illawarra, but ex-Newcastle Knights full back Jake Mamo was sidelined with an ankle injury suffered in a motorcycle accident.

Gaskell, signed from Bradford Bulls, pipped 20-year-old Darnell McIntosh for the full back slot.

Huddersfield's only other absentee was Sam Rapira with ex-Bradford players Alex Mellor, Paul Clough and the returning Dale Ferguson also included by boss Rick Stone.

Widnes almost snatched an early lead after a neat Gilmore kick but McGillvary cleared the danger just in time with Rhys Hanbury ready to pounce.

But Huddersfield did fall behind after five minutes when neat passing from Gilmore and Hanbury sent Runciman racing over and Hanbury converted.

Huddersfield rallied but a dropped pass by Symonds ended a promising attack.

A penalty conceded by Jay Chapelhow proved costly for Widnes after 13 minutes with Brough, Ryan Brierley and Cudjoe combining for McGillvary to cross in the corner and make it 6-4.

A Hanbury fumble from a high Danny Brough kick threatened more trouble for Widnes with the Giants looking sharp after their sluggish start.

Hanbury was not as lucky after 18 minutes when he failed to gather another Brough kick with Mellor sending Gaskell over. Brough tagged on the conversion to fire his side ahead 10-6.

Hanbury failed to collect another Brough kick but this time Widnes escaped. The relief was short lived with McGillvary doing well to touch down from a neat Cudjoe kick and stretch the advantage to 14-6.

Another Hanbury blunder when he lost the ball in a heavy tackle put Widnes in more trouble and Symonds plunged over from a short pass from Brough, who added the extras, to make it 20-6 after half an hour.

Huddersfield suffered an injury blow early in the second half with Symonds helped off and then the battered Hanbury needed more treatment after taking a heavy knock collecting another steepling Brough kick.

Huddersfield added a fifth try after 55 minutes from Murphy to extend the lead to 24-6. Brough missed his third conversion but it did not look as though Huddersfield were going to need his kicks.

Widnes substituted Gilmore on the hour and would have scored had Bridge not thrown out a poor pass.

A well taken try from Stefan Marsh 10 minutes from time was late consolation for the outplayed Vikings who also added a late effort from Hanbury. Huddersfield still had time to add a sixth try through Cudjoe.