Recap

Widnes Vikings suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday afternoon, going down 30-6 to Toronto Wolfpack at Newcastle Thunder’s Kingston Park.

Kieron Purtill made just one change to the team that defeated Toulouse Olympique in France last week, as Jay Chapelhow returned from injury in place of Owen Farnworth

Toronto opened the scoring after 15 minutes, as Ryan Ince fumbled a towering bomb and handed Blake Wallace a simple try, as he scooped up possession to race in untouched. Gareth O’Brien added the extras.

Six minutes later Ricky Leutele broke down the Wolfpack left edge and won a penalty for a high shot from Anthony Gelling, with O’Brien opting to kick for goal as he extended his side’s lead to 8-0.

Widnes had two last tackle kicks lead to the count being wiped as they started to build some pressure, and when Ince broke down the right wing it was the Vikings first real chance, however the wide man lost the ball in contact.

Up the other end, Olly Ashall-Bott went down in a lot of pain when he returned a Joe Mellor kick, and was forced to leave the field with the incident being placed on report.

Widnes couldn’t find a way over the try line for the remainder of the half, and went in at the break trailing by eight points.

The Wolfpack extended their lead 10 minutes into the second half after Darcy Lussick broke through the middle, with Jon Wilkin supporting the break before Andy Ackers eventually scored. O’Brien’s conversion made it 14-0.

A Vikings knock on was then punished when Gary Wheeler did enough to ground the ball in the left corner after some slick hands from Toronto. O’Brien missed the attempt at goal from out wide, as Widnes fell 18-0 behind.

Toronto produced an identical effort soon after as they were in again on the right edge, although this time it was Ricky Leutele who was on the end of the move to score. O’Brien was on target on this occasion, making it 24-0.

Widnes were pegged back even further when Ackers scored his second of the game, as he exploited a hole in the defensive line and had too much pace for Owens.

With six minutes remaining the Vikings finally broke their deadlock as Brad Walker collected Jordan Johnstone’s grubber to touch down behind the posts.

Widnes had the last say as Owens added the extras, with Toronto coming away with a 30-6 victory in Newcastle.