Widnes 40-8 Wakefield: Widnes dominate Wakefield
By AFP
Last Updated: 21/08/16 6:30pm
Widnes got back to winning ways with a seven-try victory over Wakefield in the battle between the two Super 8s strugglers.
Pat Ah Van crossed twice while Rhys Hanbury, Matty Whitley, Corey Thompson, Stef Marsh and Lloyd White were also on the scoresheet.
Widnes had been heavily beaten in their opening two games, but this time ran out comfortable victors to claim their first win of the Super 8s.
The Wildcats replied through tries from Craig Hall and Ben Bishop-Jones but they looked a shadow of the side that had propelled them into the top eight and remain winless.
Denis Betts' side came into the game on the back of a 38-0 walloping against Hull FC last week and may have been there for the taking, but the Wakefield outfit that rolled into town were well off the pace and were found wanting in every department.
Widnes were three tries up after 20 minutes and they did not have to work that hard for what ended up being an unassailable lead.
Ah Van was sent in on the left after some quick hands led to an easy opening and then Hanbury burst onto a Kevin Brown short ball to touch down.
The third try came in embarrassing fashion for lacklustre Wakefield as Jacob Miller missed a one-on-one with Whitley to allow the 20-year-old to go over.
With Wakefield struggling to build any forward momentum, the tries kept coming for the Vikings with Thompson adding a fourth before the interval after getting on the end of Whitley's deft pass.
White landed his fourth conversion of the afternoon to make it 24-0 at the break and leave the outcome of the match all but decided.
Things did not improve much for the visitors after the break either and when Marsh eased over five minutes after half-time it was a case of how many more tries Widnes would plunder.
The hosts got their sixth try of the match four minutes later when White notched and his subsequent kick saw Widnes go 34-0 ahead.
Wakefield finally had something to celebrate in the 56th minute when former Widnes player Hall shot over as the home side's concentration dipped.
However, the Vikings hit back when Ah Van collected his second try of the afternoon before Jones-Bishop completed the scoring with a consolation score for Widnes, the former Leeds man racing in from 70 metres after Joe Mellor fired a long ball into his arms.
