Widnes Vikings were defeated 26-6 by Doncaster at the DCBL Stadium on Wednesday night.
Doncaster wasted little time opening the scoring, managing to get four on the board within two minutes. Following a scrum, the ball was played into Bureta Faraimo who, unchallenged, ran down the right flank before setting the ball down over the try line.
Five minutes later, the visitors added to their lead. A clever fake from Connor Robinson created space, into which he played a testing grubber which was received and subsequently scored by James Glover.
Just before the half-hour mark, Widnes suffered further blows to their chances of claiming two points. Matty Fozard’s sin-bin for a push on James Glover left the Vikings in the lurch during a spell of Doncaster pressure. From the next set, Cory Aston played a line-splitting pass into Luis Johnson, who fell beneath the sticks.
Doncaster seemed keen to take the intensity they’d applied before the break into the second half, and evidenced this 55 minutes in. Edene Gebbie broke the Widnes line and was virtually through with a clear path to goal. Acting unselfishly, he passed the ball to Glover who added his second try of the evening.
With 12 minutes left, Faraimo was the next Doncaster player to claim his second try of the encounter. Widnes were forced to defend on their own try line, weathering waves of the visitors’ attempts to smash their way in-behind to get a try. On their third attempt, the South Yorkshire side managed to force their way over through the powerful outside back.
With the final attack of the game, Widnes did manage to get a consolation try.
Jack Owens looked to have scored after running beyond the Doncaster defence, but a last-ditch tackle prevented the Vikings captain from getting himself on the scoresheet. Fortunately for his side, the ball was played down the line into Ryan Ince soon after, and he put the ball down in the corner for his 18th try of the season.
Teams and scorers
Widnes Vikings: Connell, Butt, Owens, Taylor, Ince, Richardson, Gilmore, Murray, Fozard, Chapelhow, Roberts, Wilde, Johnstone. Interchanges: Bent, Langtree, Lawton, Billington.
Tries: Ince
Goals: Richardson
Doncaster: Holmes, Faraimo, Boas, Glover, Gebbie, Aston, Robinson, Knowles, Burns, Mustapha, Sutcliffe, Johnson, Jones. Interchanges: Ashworth, Hepi, McConnell, Misky.
Tries: Faraimo (2), Glover (2), Johnson
Goals: Robinson (3)
Match reaction
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