Leeds 42-22 Widnes: Rhinos charge past Vikings

Leeds 42-22 Widnes: Match Stats

Leeds tries:  Watkins (6, 73), Parcell (9, 77), Moon (17, 28), Briscoe (36)
Conversions/Penalties:  Watkins (6, 9, 17, 28, 36, 73, 77) 

Widnes tries:  Gilmore (25,58), Thompson (65), Houston (61)
Conversions/Penalties:  Gilmore (25,58,61) 

Match report

Kallum Watkins scored 22 points with two tries and seven goals but Leeds were forced to withstand a fierce second-half fightback to complete a perfect Easter with a 42-22 victory over struggling Widnes.

The Rhinos, who won 52-24 at Hull on Good Friday, ran in five first-half tries to lead 30-6 at the break but three unanswered scores from the Vikings set up a tense finale.

Leeds' sixth win in their last seven games ensured that they stay hard on the heels of Betfred Super League leaders Castleford, albeit the Tigers have a game in hand.

Widnes, still with just one win in their first 10 games, remain rooted to the foot of the table.

It was Leeds first success over their Cheshire rivals in four games between the sides, dating back to February 2015.

Matt Parcell and Joel Moon also claimed a brace of tries for the Rhinos, while Tom Gilmore grabbed two tries and three goals for the visitors.

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Chris King, the first person in the UK to have a double hand transplant, celebrated the success of his operation by clapping his beloved Rhinos onto the pitch and they got off to the perfect start after just five minutes.

Watkins continued his extraordinary run of scoring against Widnes, rising to catch a Danny McGuire cross-field kick and go between the posts - the eighth consecutive match against the Vikings in which he has scored at least one try.

Shortly afterwards fortune favoured the hosts as another, more speculative, McGuire kick bounced back off the upright and into the arms of Parcell, who gratefully strode over to help make it 12-0.

And only a magnificent tackle to hold up Adam Cuthbertson prevented a third quick-fire Rhinos try but, as Widnes continued to heap more pressure on themselves through handling errors, Moon capitalised by diving over to keep his side scoring at a point a minute.

Gilmore steadied a rocking Vikings' ship by dummying his way over then converting his own try.

Normal service was soon resumed for the hosts when Ryan Hall was set free down the left before the return pass gave Moon his second try of the game and eighth of the season.

Tom Briscoe then skipped his way down the blindside of some poor defence to score Leeds' fifth try of the half with stand-in goal kicker Watkins keeping up hs 100% record with the boot to send the Rhinos in at half-time with a seemingly comfortable 24-point cushion..

A scrappy start the second period broke the Rhinos' rhythm and Gilmore converted his second try just before the hour mark to provide the Vikings with some hope.

Chris Houston turned that into possible belief when taking an off-load from Owen Farnworth to score again with 18 minutes left and it was a different ball game with Leeds suddenly under the kosh.

Corey Thompson then scored in the corner and, although Gilmour missed his first conversion in four attempts, the visitors were suddenly only eight points adrift.

But Watkins crashed over for his second try of the game and added the conversion to settle any home nerves before Parcell completed the scoring in the dying seconds.

Match reaction

Brian McDermott on Leeds' first half creativity and second half resolve: "There were a couple of things involved in the second half, not least Widnes' desire to get back into the game.

"But we were running at 40% in the second half and the last thing we needed to do was give them an invite back into the game. Credit to Widnes - they made it a contest but had we done things differently they never would have been able to make it a contest.

"We found ourselves in a situation where we were fighting for the game and credit to our players - they showed some maturity and when they got the chance they got over to score a try. I won't get on the players' backs about the second half - it made it interesting and entertaining - but the most pleasing thing is that we were very good and very clinical in the first half."

Vikings boss Denis Betts on his side's injury problems and the performance: "At half-time we spoke about treating it like someone taking something from us in the street and then chasing after them and trying to get as much as we can back.

"We got ambushed at the start and we intended to start quickly ourselves. But we were only competing at 60% and got behind in the penalty count and then we just got caught in a whirlwind of incomplete sets and injuries.

"Losing Danny (Craven) and Lloyd (White) - two blokes who are pretty pivotal to what we want to do - made it difficult as we had to switch around a lot.

"Danny has gone straight to hospital to see a specialist but the problem with digits is that they are quite complicated and he could be out for six to 10 weeks, depending upon what kind of operation he needs.

"We're down on troops and it's a tough time at the moment. We'd like to take credit for the second half - they ran out of steam a little bit too.

"We need to win and need to win a home game. But there's still a long way to go and the bottom four is still made up of sides on six and seven points, so they are not so far away."