VIKINGS CRASH OUT OF WORLD SEVENS (From Warrington Guardian)

VIKINGS CRASH OUT OF WORLD SEVENS

WIDNES Vikings assault on the World Sevens fell at the first hurdle as they crashed out of their qualifying group.

Pool A always looked like the group of death, featuring as it did crack NRL sides Cronulla Sharks and Paramatta Eels as well as the Vikings.

However, Widnes will have been hoping to get the better of the fourth team in the group in the shape of qualifiers New South Wales Country.

It was probably unfortunate the Vikings played Country first given Neil Kelly's young side's inexperience in this form of the game.

Country got off to a flyer with two early tries, which put the Vikings 8-0 down after four minutes.

New signing Troy Wozniak raced in from 40 metres for Widnes's first points of the tournament.

Under the rules of the competition, a try scored under the posts was worth five points and Julian O'Neill's conversion brought Widnes back into contention at 8-7 at the break.

Nicky Royle showed his pace to give the Vikings the lead early in the second half but it was short-lived as first Gavin Cook and then Danny Somerville went in for Country.

O'Neill's late five-pointer plus his conversion left Country victorious at 21-18.

The Vikings remaining games against the Sharks and the Eels were always likely to be tough ordeals and so it proved.

Sharks winger Nathan Merritt raced in for a tournament record five tries as the Widnes defence struggled to cope with his explosive pace.

A brace of tries from Widnes trialist hooker Andrew Henderson were the highlight of this Widnes display as they lost 34-13.

The Vikings were effectively out of the competition before their final game against tournament favourites Paramatta.

The Eels extra know-how was crucial as they ran in six tries to two.

Both Vikings efforts were opportunist scores from Adam Hughes but the final score of 35-11 was a fair reflection of the contest.

The eventual tournament winners were West Tigers who beat Paramatta 18-7 in the final.