Vikings:
1. Rhys Hanbury;
2. Paddy Flynn, 4. Stefan Marsh, 14. Chris Dean, 5. Patrick Ah Van;
6. Kevin Brown, 7. Joe Mellor;
25. Alex Gerrard, 9. Lloyd White, 10. Manase Manuokafoa,
17. Chris Clarkson, 12. Danny Tickle,
13. Hep Cahill.

Subs: 3. Cameron Phelps, 19. Ben Kavanagh, 20. Declan Hulme, 21. Danny Craven, 22. Liam Carberry, 23. Phil Joseph, 24. Macgraff Leuluai, 27. Grant Gore, 28. Matt Whitely, 31. Ryan Ince, 33. Aaron Heremaia.

FULL TIME 16-20 and a great game. Widnes Vikings will be taking home the Karalius Cup for the first time.

Declan Hulme double in the last 10 minutes.

That is a very impressive result, couldn't make it today and wondered how they would perform. It will be interesting to get a few views from those who went. Always difficult to assess what if anything such pre-season games mean for the regular season, but we get hold of an actual trophy for the first time which is encouraging!

What will be useful to hear is how particular players performed. All our tries from outside backs, which is encouraging, since this is a perceived area of weakness. "Widnes Academy" will have mixed feelings being a Saints fan, but with his son Declan scoring two against them to win the game!

Nice little confidence booster that even if it is a nothing game.Hopefully Hulme can step up to now to challenge for a place every week.I never went to the game nor Warrington but the sin binnings are a concern.Need to stop giving the reff reasons to bin our players before the real stuff begins.Four in two games can't all have been wrong decisions surely.

Good result today, i thought we stepped up considerably from the Warrington game, Both teams started with very strong sides and we won the 1st half 8-6 and generally looked pretty solid. Second half both sides brought lesser experienced players on but i was really pleased how we finished with Gore, Hulme, Carberry, Craven, Whitley and Ince all playing well.

BTW Manokafua (SP) went to charge a kick down on the last and dove at the players feet, slightly late but nothing worth getting a fuss over, Wellens then throws a punch to Mana on the floor and a melee erupts (handbags) yet only Macgraff goes the bin and nothing happened to Wellens? a terrible decision from Silverwood and the touch judges who are in general useless.

A pleasing result and good win for confidence.

I think you will find it was graff who was binned VM

But how did that thug wellens get away scott free after he did a 'ben flower' is beyond me

I just hope the rfl will ban him after seeing the footage or will another 'BIG 4' get away with blue murder

Btw what a great win and we deserved as well

Thats what i said mate but yes Wellens got away with murder in that incident.

I'm made up with that result. A real confidence booster to Dennis and the lads. Surprised at Wellens as he's usually a good level headed professional. Until today I've had huge respect for the guy.

Can't wait for the Wigan game...

Might actually have been Wilkin who threw the punch, thought it was Wellens at the time, either way a poop house tactic. Should have seen red.

I have no mixed feelings "WV" he got NO TEA and it was WILKIN who threw the punch into Graff ,and it wasn't just the one - wont matter anyhow when he gets banned - the guy wont be getting much game time this year thank god.

Thought Widnes did okay but the noticeable difference "whoever was on the pitch" was the speed of the play the ball - Saints far quicker and if it wasn't for the brilliant Paddy Flynn we would have been out of sight

Still cant understand why he hasnt got a Red V on his shirt

What's promising is that we are increasing the options we have to put on the park. The team almost picked itself last year and now we've competition in the back line and front row, with the 'pivotal' players being quite obvious. Healthy position to be in and stands up in good stead. Galea will add competition for the back row and now Hulme has put his hand up for a centre spot.

We have White, Heremaia, Carberry and Gore than can play 9, doubt Gilmore will ever come into the equation when Denis picks his hooking options.

He's 4th in line at half back too behind Mellor, Brown and Craven. Plenty of time for Tom yet.

I'm sure you are right about where Tom currently sits, but I was making a point about who has the skills to speed up our PTB. I haven't seen either pre-season game so can't comment upon how Heremaia has gone, but looking back to last season White was getting better at varying his play but it was still a bit pedestrian, Carberry was strong in the tackle and had a strong pass, but again not really nippy, Gore again varied his play but wasn't lightening fast (not that he got much game time!). Craven was very laboured when covering at 9, making almost a separate movement in picking the ball up, standing up and then passing. I accept that you have put him in as half back cover, but there was a time last season when it appeared that Gilmore had overtaken Craven and I think he has a fair bit to prove to get back to his early promise, lets hope he does get back his confidence and form.

Gilmore despite lacking a bit of size showed a keen rugby brain and good skills, he could offer that bit of extra zip at 9, but as you suggest it is unlikely he will cover there as we have so many players for whom 9 is their main position. At least things will have improved speed wise now Clarke is no longer there. We just need a bit of variety and clear decision making, as Clarke often seemed caught in two minds as to whether to pass or scoot, allowing defences to blot out whatever move he finally decided to make!

Its important that we have alternative play makers to Brown to avoid KB being marked out of the game. I don't know what evidence there has been of Manuokafoa's offloading game, but that could be another channel of attack we haven't had before, since the opposition could pretty well guarantee non of our props would ever pass or offload, so they could defend accordingly. Nice to be able to create a bit of doubt and uncertainty in the minds of defenders.