Widnes Vikings booked their place in the 1895 Cup final with a comprehensive 52-0 victory over Rochdale Hornets at the DCBL Stadium.
Allan Coleman’s side made a lightning-fast start as Sam Wilde took a pass 10m out and fended off a Rochdale defender to open the scoring after just four minutes.
The Vikings consolidated their advantage eight minutes later, moving the ball well from the scrum which allowed Mike Butt to race in and stretch the advantage.
Twenty-one minutes in, Widnes found themselves 10m out and moved the ball quickly across to the left, which gave Joe Edge the space to walk in for a try.
The Vikings scored again just five minutes later, a short pass from Lewis Hall pounced on by Max Roberts who burrowed his way over for the score.
Four minutes before the break, Widnes were in again. A high kick into the Rochdale in-goal area wasn’t dealt with by the Hornets, which left Jack Billington to pick up the pieces and touch the ball down.
On the stroke of the interval, Kieran Taylor applied a little chip in-behind and recovered his own kick to race over and score.
Allan Coleman’s side started the second half just as they began the first, Danny Langtree taking the ball 10m out before applying a cheeky dummy to part the Hornets defence and get himself on the scoresheet.
Just three minutes later, Tom Gilmore’s short kick sat up nicely for Wilde, who pounced on the ball to score his second of the afternoon.
Five minutes later, an offload from Wilde caught the Hornets napping, allowing Nathan Connell to stroll over for a third Vikings try in quick succession.
Widnes rounded off the scoring for the afternoon when Matty Fozard took the ball out of acting half and burrowed his way through some tired Rochdale bodies to crash over and take Widnes past a half-century of points for the afternoon.
They will face London Broncos in the final on Monday 31 August, with further details to be confirmed over the coming days.
Match highlights
Teams and scorers
Widnes Vikings: Connell, Butt, Taylor, Edge, Ince, Owens, Gilmore, Murray, Johnstone, Chapelhow, Roberts, Wilde, Hall. Interchanges: Fozard, Langtree, McWhirter, Billington.
Tries: Wilde (2), Butt, Edge, Roberts, Billington, Taylor, Langtree, Connell, Fozard
Goals: Owens, Edge (3), Fozard (2)
Rochdale Hornets: Flanagan, Boyd, Sa’u, Ashton, Nixon, Dallimore, Hansen, Barratt, Paga, Ioane, Whitmore, Wood, Syme. Interchanges: Dayes, Hatton, Kelly-Duffy, Waterworth.
Tries:
Goals:
Post-match reaction
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