Widnes crush Hull with eight-try romp

Widnes recorded their first win over Hull in Super League as they ran in eight tries at the Halton Stadium yesterday. The Vikings lost at St Helens last weekend, but boosted their play-off hopes against an injury-hit Hull side, who missed the chance to go back into third.

Widnes now find themselves just a point behind sixth place and still have matches against the teams above them.

The Vikings all but won the game in the first half. Paul Devlin opened the scoring on three minutes, and although Hull went ahead when Paul Cooke converted Adam Maher's try in the sixth minute, it was one-way traffic from then on.

At the interval the home side went in 34-6 up after Adam Hughes, Shane Millard, Stuart Spruce, Phil Cantillon and Julian O'Neill - who was also on target with his kicking duties, booting seven goals in the match - all touched down.

Further scores from Jason Demetriou and Hughes again after the restart completed the rout. They lost Anthony Farrell, sent off for a high tackle on Dean Treister, with six minutes remaining before Hull grabbed a late try through Kirk Yeaman, Cooke's failed conversion attempt summing up the visitors' afternoon.

Huddersfield added Super League leaders Leeds to their growing list of scalps with a 30-24 victory at the McAlpine Stadium on Saturday.

The Giants, who had already defeated champions St Helens and Wigan at the McAlpine Stadium this year, ended a 38-year wait for a win over Leeds in dramatic fashion.

Brandon Costin snatched a sensational win with an 80th-minute try to deny the Rhinos, who had fought back from 24-12 down to level the scores.

"It was a pretty scrappy game, but we were good enough to keep our composure," the Huddersfield coach Tony Smith said. "The thing they've got going for them is that they play as a team."

The Rhinos remain top of the table despite a third defeat of the season, but they were stunned by the ferocity of Huddersfield's tackling and the enthusiasm of their kick-and-chase.

The Leeds coach Daryl Powell admitted his team were going through a slump. "We've lost two of our last three games and last week we didn't play particularly well," he said. "Every team has a difficult period and, hopefully, we can say this is our dip. We have got to sort it out."

National League One leaders Salford extended their unbeaten run to 10 matches with a 24-12 win over Hull KR, who had threatened to cause an upset at The Willows. The Reds trailed 12-4 at the break, but they improved after the restart and scored early through captain Malcolm Alker. Further tries from Chris Beverley, Stuart Littler (his second) and Alan Hunt completed the turnaround.