Rhys Hanbury breaks Widnes away drought
Rhys Hanbury was the star of the show as he inspired Widnes Vikings to a 46-8 win over Salford City Reds.
Hanbury scored two tries and kicked seven goals, as well as being the provider of the majority of Widnes’ tries.
Cameron Phelps and Patrick Ah Van also grabbed a brace of tries, as Widnes went onto secure their first Super League away win since 2005 against Leigh.
The match started evenly, with the first points coming in the second quarter of the game. Both sides exchanged handbags, and referee James Child took action penalising both teams accordingly.
Both sides had their chances within that opening quarter of the match. Vinnie Anderson made a 70 metre break before passing to Sean Gleeson in support, who kicked the ball and conceded possession on the zero tackle.
Widnes’ best chance came when Hanbury’s chip to Willie Isa was knocked down by the big three-quarter over the Salford line.
However as the second quarter approached Widnes upped their game.
Phelps got the first try of the game after 24 minutes, as he collected an inside ball before twisting and turning around the Salford defence on their own line.
Ah Van found the try line shortly after, although his try came off a lucky deflection from Gleeson as the Widnes winger tried to collect a looping pass from in-field.
Ah Van grabbed his second with less than five minutes remaining of the second half. Hanbury’s kick to the corner was inch perfect and allowed Ah Van to touch down on the left side.
Things went from bad to worse for Salford as Widnes, from the restart, embarrassed the City Reds.
However Salford had the early chance to get points on the score board, but despite the efforts of Vinnie Anderson who made the initial break, Jordan James in support spilled the ball over the Widnes try line.
Widnes were threatening with Rhys Hanbury in the side. After several sets of six on Salford’s line, Paul McShane finally scored from dummy half.
Hanbury made a break in the Salford line from the next set of six after the restart, offloading to Phelps for him to grab his second try of the match.
Hanbury scored a try himself in the 53rd minute, breaking Salford’s line with ease before running 70 metres to beat Luke Patten at fullback to the corner.
Salford got on the score board moments later through Ashley Gibson, a late replacement for the City Reds after centre Joel Moon withdrew prior to the match.
Danny Williams collected Daniel Holdsworth’s long pass to double the City Reds’ score shortly after.
But the match belonged to Widnes as Marc Sneyd’s offload to the Vikings’ Danny Craven towards the end of the match summed up Salford’s night. Craven went the remaining distance untouched to score.
Salford scores: T- Gibson, Williams.
Widnes scores: T- Phelps (2), Ah Van (2), Hanbury (2), McShane, Craven. G- Hanbury (7)
Salford: Patten; Broughton, Gibson, Gleeson, Williams; Holdsworth, Sneyd; Jewitt, Howarth, Boyle; Ashurst, Anderson, Wild. Subs: James, Palea’aesina, Sidlow, Nero.
Widnes: Phelps; Isa, Dean, Marsh, Ah van; Mellor, Hanbury; Cross, McShane, Pickersgill; Winterstein, Allen, Cahill. Subs: Davies, Kite, Craven, O’Carroll.
Attendance: 5,196
Half time: 0-24
Referee: James Child
St Helens took revenge for their loss to Catalan Dragons earlier in the season with a 20-15 win in Perpignan.
Lance Hohaia and Francis Meli scored for the Saints in the first half, as tries from Chris Flannery and Tommy Makinson put Saints ahead.
The Dragons, who were leading at half time, scored through Vincent Duport and Sebastien Raguin. Scott Dureau kicked three goals, including a drop goal on the half time hooter.
The game saw Tony Puletua sent off for a high tackle six minutes from time, but Saints hung on for the win.
Leeds Rhinos upset their neighbours Bradford beating them 34-16 at Headingley.
Leeds scored tries from Kallum Watkins (2), Shaun Lunt, Zak Hardaker, Danny McGuire and Kevin Sinfield.
Bradford, who were ahead early in the first half, scored with tries from Elliot Whitehead, Olivier Elima and Karl Pryce.