Sheffield Eagles 30 Widnes Vikings 44 (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Sheffield Eagles 30 Widnes Vikings 44

2:26pm Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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WIDNES maintained their unbeaten start with a thrilling win at the Don Valley Stadium.

The result was in the balance until a four try burst in the final quarter enabled Vikings to take the spoils.

In a tough encounter Mark Smith was sin-binned with Sheffield’s Misi Taulapapa after a mass brawl in the second half.

Gareth Haggerty earlier found himself on report following an incident with former Widnes prop Sam Barlow.

Vikings opened the scoring when Haggerty was too strong for the defence from close range. Shane Grady banged over the first of eight goals.

Eagles grabbed a six-pointer from Mitchell Stringer before Jim Gannon and Tangi Ropati swapped scores to make it 12-12.

A goal-line drop-out that failed to make 10 metres gifted Sheffield a penalty from which they surprisingly kicked.

It let Widnes off the hook and James Webster’s pinpoint kick saw Matt Gardner touch down just before the break to give his side an 18-14 advantage.

Vikings’ indiscipline enabled the home side to establish a 26-18 lead with tries from Menzie Yere and Craig Cook.

But just when it looked as if Widnes were losing their grip, they suddenly hit top gear.

Gannon went in for his second from Smith’s flat pass and a superb Smith 40/20 kick set up the position for Anthony Thackeray to dummy over direct from the scrum.

Webster’s long ball found Gardner who cut inside to register a brace of his own.

Eagles desperately tried to move the ball wide in their own half but Webster's keen anticipation saw him intercept and stroll to the posts to effectively end the argument.

Sheffield scored a late try through centre Tangi Ropati but Brendon Lindsay’s failure to convert meant the Yorkshiremen failed to gain a bonus point.

Widnes: Yates; Flynn, Varkulis, Grady (8g), Gardner (2t); Thackeray (1t), Webster (1t); Haggerty (1t), Smith, Gannon (2t), Doran, Farrell, Allen. Subs: Coyle, Kavanagh, Houghton, Davies.