Widnes Vikings 10

Leeds Rhinos 46

IF you weren't at this game, the scoreline might suggest a crushing victory for the Rhinos.

In truth, the Vikings gave a fine account of themselves before running out of steam in the last quarter.

With 55 minutes on the clock, the scores were level at 10-10 before Leeds super-sub Kevin Sinfield broke the Vikings' resistance with a brace of tries in the space of four minutes.

Up to that point, Widnes had given as good as they got with the sort of display which would surely see off most First Division opposition.

The first-half was well contested with the visitors having the majority of the play territorially but Widnes tackled with great enthusiasm and managed to hit the gain line much more than in recent weeks with the forwards giving their all - none more so than loose-forward Jim Cassidy who was outstanding until forced to withdraw after 52 minutes.

Tries from Silk Cut mom, Andy Hay and Aussie centre Brad Godden gave the visitors the edge at the interval though a couple of penalty goals from Mark Hewitt kept the Vikings within striking distance at just 4-10 down.

Four minutes into the second-half came the moment that brought the home crowd to their feet.

From a 10 metre scrum, Cassidy picked up at the base and using Hewitt's conversion tied the scores at 10-10 and had Rhinos coach Graham Murray admitting he was worried.

Sadly, what looked like a possible giant-killing act never materialised as the Rhinos, with skipper Lestyn Harris pulling the strings from stand-off, stepped up a gear aided, it has to be said, by a string of penalties late in the tackle count.

Sinfield's brace was the pre-cursor to a blitz of tries including two more from Hay to complete his hat-trick with Golden, McDermott and Rivett also crossing the whitewash.

Vikings coach Colin Whitfield was not despondent and nor should he be.

He will be pleased to have got through the game without picking up serious injuries and will realise that if his charges can take this level of performance into the forthcoming weeks, there is no reason why they shouldn't be amongst the front runners for the title.

A word of appreciation should also go to the Vikings fans who offered vociferous support throughout and stayed behind to give the team a richly deserved round of applause at the end of the match.

It would be nice to see similar levels of support at the Auto Quest Stadium on Sunday for the visit of Barrow.

Attendance: 6,375

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.