The Vikings kicked off the 2024 Championship Season in convincing fashion with a 44-8 victory over Barrow Raiders at the DCBL Stadium.
Allan Coleman’s side ran in eight tries from six different scorers to take top spot in the Championship after the opening round of fixtures.
Barrow took an early 2-0 lead through a Shaw penalty less than five minutes into the first half.
The lead didn’t last long however as the Vikings responded through Mike Butt, who took Joe Lyons looping pass over the top to stroll in.
A fantastic move from deep saw Sam Wilde cross to extend the lead to 8 points before Rhodri Lloyd pounced on a Barrow error to put the Vikings up 16-2.
The visitors were given some hope before the break as Johnston took Brad Walker’s kick to score.
However, the Vikings soon snuffed out any hope of a fightback as Danny Langtree crashed over for his first Vikings try.
Ryan Shaw was then sent to the Sin Bin for a professional foul and Brad Walker was sent off for dissent.
Further cards were then shown as Ryan Ince and Jarrad Stack were sent to the bin for their part in a scuffle.
The Vikings then scored four tries in the final 15 minutes. Mike Butt grabbed his brace before Joe Edge ran in for a double of his own to extend the lead to 30 points.
Tom Gilmore had the final say as he dummied through under the posts to take the final score to 44-8 in the Vikings’ favour.
The Vikings turn their attention to our Good Friday clash with Swinton Lions (29 March).
COACHES COMMENTS
Head Coach Allan Coleman said: “I thought we were good today. It was the small stuff that we did really well. which is what we didn’t do last week against Batley.
“We’ve worked hard all week on how to stay in control of a game and when getting our noses in front we need to make sure we stay there, to stay composed but also play a brand of exciting rugby and I thought we did that today.
“I identified as soon as I came into the club that we need to be better defensively.
“I think we did five back-to-back sets on our own line today and that was against a very good attacking team who pushed Wakefield all the way two weeks.”
TEAMS AND SCORERS
Widnes Vikings: Owens, Butt, Lloyd, Edge, Ince, Lyons, Gilmore, Kirk, Fozard, Murray, Langtree, Wilde, Gregson
Interchanges: Johnstone, Roberts, Bent, A. Walker, Roby (18th)
Tries: Butt x2, Edge x2, Wilde, Lloyd, Langtree, Gilmore
Goals: Gilmore x6
Barrow Raiders: Cresswell, Shaw, Costello, Clarke, Toal, B. Walker, Johnston, T. Walker, Wood, Silva, Greenwood, Stack, Makin
Interchanges: Smith, Wilkinson, Emslie, Burke, Anderson-Moore (18th)
Tries: Johnston
Goals: Shaw x2
ATTENDANCE: 1758
