THE Saints made it two wins from two at the drizzly Halton Stadium on Sunday with a 52-18 win but were far from at their best. In fact they only really put significant daylight between themselves and their hosts in the final quarter scoring four tries without reply, writes Graham Henthorne.
The Saints started the match on fire scoring on play three after only 40 seconds. Greg Wilde broke through some paper-thin tackling down the middle running 50 metres to the full back before feeding it out wide to Lewis Galbraith who rounded the cover over the final 30 metres to score
The Vikings should have levelled matters on their first foray into the Saints half squandering an overlap in the corner.
As often happens the Saints made them pay swiftly going down the other end to double their lead. Dom Speakman showed his awareness jumping blind out of dummy half and feeding the imposing figure of André Savelio. The big second rower got his fend out to swat away a would-be tackler before passing inside to the supporting Mark Percival who jinked around two to score.
The Vikings again let the Saints off the hook as they again worked the overlap but didn’t score, this time due to a forward pass.
Saints again took full advantage with two quick tries. A penalty had boosted Saints downfield and as the ball went right Savelio again showed his power before feeding out to Lewis Charnock who put Wilde in at the corner.
From the kick off indiscipline again piggybacked the Saints into the Vikings 20 and quick hands from Wilde and Percival put Corey Lee (pictured) in for a well taken try, the winger standing up the defenders in front of him before squeezing in at their feet.
But then the Saints eased off allowing the home side to score twice in the final ten minutes of the half.
This served not only to bring them within sniffing distance but also gave the young Vikings added impetus going into the second half which saw them camped on the Saints line for most of the opening stanza.
However, the Saints withstood the barrage before pulling away. James Tilley reacted quickest to regain possession from a charge down. Adam Hesketh was held up over the line and Savelio short before Galbraith burrowed his way in from the play the ball.
From the kick off the saints pack showed just how easy it could be as they rolled their way 60 metres down the middle. On the last Corey Lee received the ball on the right and showed extreme dexterity in tip-toeing his way down the line for a fine try.
The Saints then gifted the Vikings a score knocking on for the sixth time on first tackle in the opening 20 minutes of the half the winger this time scoring from an overlap.
As mentioned earlier the final quarter was all Saints as the home side tired. Danny Yates put Savelio in for his first with a great short pass and Alex Clare scored shortly after profiting from hard work from his Captain Tilley.
Again good work from the pack lead by Tommy Holland and Luke Thompson allowed debutant Dan Abram time to put Savelio in for his second.
The final act came in the form of a Thompson try bursting through the middle after Savelio had again terrorised the defence with a big run down the right.
This was a comfortable win in the end, but players and coaching staff alike were all left wondering what might have been had the Saints played anything like they had last week or will need to do next week.
Match Summary:
Widnes:
Tries: Danny Stapleton, Mike Donohue, Jay Chapelhow.
Goals: Jack Owens 3.
Saints:
Tries: Greg Wilde, Corey Lee 2, Mark Percival, Lewis Galbraith 2, Luke Thompson, Andrè Savelio 2, Alex Clare.
Goals: Mark Percival 6.
Half Time: 18-12
Full Time: 52-18
Teams:
Widnes:
1. Jack Owens; 2. Kieran Butterworth, 3. Danny Stapleton, 4. Ed Chamberlain, 5. Mike Donohue; 6. Connor Davies, 7. Tom Gilmore; 8. Joel Albiston, 9. Danny Dakin, 10. Nathan Sharratt, 11. Jay Chapelhow, 12. Lloyd Hankin, 13. Matty Whitley.
Subs: 14. Aima Tagayuna, 15. Dale Rothwell, 16. Ged Saundry, 17. Ted Chapelhow.
Saints:
1. Greg Wilde; 2. Corey Lee, 3. Mark Percival, 4. Lewis Galbraith, 5. Adam Saunders; 6. Lewis Charnock, 18. Danny Yates; 8. Tommy Holland, 9. Dom Speakman, 21. Adam Hesketh, 11. Luke Thompson, 12. Andrè Savelio, 13. James Tilley.
Subs: 7. Dan Abram, 14. Lewis Foster, 16. Alex Clare, 17. Chris Webster.
