Salford Red Devils, bouyed by last weekends big win over Hull FC, travelled to the Select Security Stadium to take on the Widnes Vikings looking for their first win since beating the Leeds Rhinos at the end of February.
It’s early in the season but this game had all the hallmarks of a four-pointer as both sides looked for the points to help them to a top eight finish to avoid the dreaded middle eights and the fight for Super League survival.
Both sides can impress on their day, but are also prone to a meltdown. The odds were on a Widnes win but it was a strong looking Salford side who rolled into town.
Both sides made good starts with five tackles and a kick being the order of the day and few mistakes. Salford were getting the upper hand and on fifteen Derrell Olpherts looked to have scored on his debut but despite a TRY being given on the field the decision was overruled by the video referee, perhaps a little harshly.
Three minutes later and the referee didn’t need video assistance when a Robert Lui kick was allowed to bounce by the Widnes defence before being picked up by Josh Jones and passed to Craig Kopczak to go over for the opening score. Lui added the conversion and the 6-0 was fair reward for Salford’s dominance.
Widnes had a try ruled our from Ted Chapelhow but on the next play of the ball Chris Dean took a short pass off Joe Mellor to go through the smallest of gaps in the Salford line and stretch out one-handed to score. Krisnan Inu added the conversion to tie up proceedings.
Messing at the play the ball by Widnes gifted Lui a two point penalty for the Red Devils to regain the lead.Lui added another from ten metres on thirty-eight to send his side into the interval with a 10-6 lead.
In the first notable action of the second half, Lama Tasi was sin-binned on forty-three for a clumsy challenge which saw Chapelhow leaving the field for concussion test.
Widnes hit the front on forty-nine when Inu was at the end of a left to right passing move to take the pass and drive over under the tacklers to score out wide. Inu added the extras brilliantly from the line for a 12-10 lead, the first time that the home side had been ahead in the game.
With Salford back up to full strength it was they who scored then next try in a topsy-turvy game. A Lui high ball was knocked back by Jake Bibby and taken by Weller Hauraki to go over and ground. Lui was unable to add the extras but the Red Devils had a two point lead.
When Widnes failed to make their goal line clearance travel ten metres, Salford, through Lui, took another two point penalty to double their lead.
On the back of several penalties, Widnes were pressuring the Salford. With ten minutes left on the clock Greg Burke broke the Salford line and crashed over to level the scores. Inu added the extras and again it was the home side who had the lead, this time by 18-16.
The points were in the bag for Widnes five minutes from the final hooter when Aaron Heremaia found a gap after picking up a Danny Craven bounce tackle to score one-handed under the cross bar. Lui added the conversion for 24-16.
The game ebbed and flowed with both sides having periods of dominance, latterly due to indiscipline from the opposition. It was a fast game on the all-weather surface with surprisingly few errors despite the rain falling heavily for most of the game. It was Widnes whose nerve held and they finish the night in fifth spot having leapfrogged the Tigers and the Wolves.
Vikings: Hanbury, Marsh, Inu (T, 4G), Runciman, Chamberlain, Mellor, Craven, Houston, Heremaia (T), Burke (T), Dean (T), Whitley, Olbison. Subs: Johnstone, Walker, Chapelhow, Wilde.
Red Devils: Evalds, Bibby, Olpherts, Sa’u, Johnson, Lui (4G), Littlejohn, Mossop, Tomkins, Kopczak (T), Jones, Hauraki (T), Flanagan. Subs: Wood, Tasi (SB on 43), Nakubuwai, McCarthy.
Referee: Ben Thaler.
Half-Time: 6-10.
Full-Time: 24-16.
Attendance: .
