Huddersfield 66 Widnes Vikings 6 (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Huddersfield 66 Widnes Vikings 6

10:46pm Sunday 12th February 2012 in Vikings news

NOBODY said it was going to be easy.

If the Vikings weren't already aware of just how tough their return to Super League was going to prove, they certainly know now.

Widnes went down 66-6 to a slick Huddersfield Giants side that repeatedly punched holes in their rearguard.

Buoyed by an opening day win at Wigan, the Yorkshiremen were clearly high on confidence.

And in threequarters Leroy Cudjoe and Luke George they had the speed to inflict maximum damage on their opponents.

In the end, Cudjoe and George bagged four and three tries respectively as the Giants ran in twelve touchdowns in total.

The likes of former Huddersfield men Scott Moore and Simon Finnigan, along with Ben Davies, Anthony Mullally and Paddy Flynn, did their best to stem the tide, but it proved irresistible.

The writing was on the wall in the opening exchanges with the home side finding lots of room on the fringes with skipper Kevin Brown pulling the strings.

But ultimately the opening score came from the most direct route, as Luke Robinson burrowed over from dummy-half.

On 11 minutes, Cudjoe got on the outside of opposite number Willie Isa to open his personal account and the die was well and truly cast.

Ex-Viking Scott Grix danced over from close range and when Widnes did manage to exert some pressure, their balloon was pricked by a 95 metre interception try by Cudjoe.

By the 25 minute mark, Cudjoe had completed his hat-trick and just before the break George started his own spree as the Vikings were opened up once more.

A 34-0 half-time deficit was daunting and despite a promising start to the second half it got worse when George broke free to race 80 metres to score.

The Vikings only try came on 52 minutes.

Rhys Hanbury seemed to have fluffed his attempted bomb but Kurt Haggerty made the most of it and sent Flynn racing up the right wing.

He grubbered ahead astutely and regathered under pressure to score a fine try converted by Patrick Ah Van.

It was brief respite.

Cudjoe notched his fourth touchdown of the afternoon signalling normal service had been reserved.

The Giants rammed the point home in the final twenty minutes as George completed his hat-trick and Jason Chan, Joe Wardle and Greg Eden also crossed.

Huddersfield: Eden; McGillvray, Cudjoe, Wardle, George; Grix, Brough; Crabtree, Robinson, Gilmour, Chan, Fairbank, Brown. Subs: Lawrence, Ferguson, Lee, Walker.

Widnes: Craven; Flynn, Dean, Isa, Ah Van; White, Hanbury; Cross, Moore, Davies, Winterstein, Allen, Cahill. Subs: Haggerty, Finnigan, Mullally, Kavanagh.