Widnes made it five consecutive victories as they eased past Championship strugglers Hunslet 40-10 on Sunday afternoon. The Vikings overcome a stubborn first half performance by the Parksiders, who only trailed at half-time 10-6.
Lee Gaskell and Billy Jowitt impressed throughout for Hunslet, but it was Widnes who took control second half and cruised to victory.
Head coach Allan Coleman made a quadruple interchange around the half an hour mark, which proved crucial in changing the momentum of the game.
Out of the players who entered the arena from the interchange bench, it was Adam Lawton who grabbed the headlines scoring two tries and was rewarded with the man of the match award.
Speaking post match, head coach Allan Coleman praised the towering forwards contribution and the level of impact he had on the game.
Coleman went onto say “we want to keep working with him, we know his strengths, he has a great tip and carries aggressively.”
“He is hard to stop, he engages defenders and it was absolutely vital I left him out there longer in the second half.”
“We have a big game next week and I wanted him to dig deep and he did. I want us to learn how to use his tip a little bit better and we will do, he is still new to us and we will get there with that.”
“Today he made a big impact for us, especially the play where Ben Condon takes a big carry from the tap, we went to shape and he is in the Back-Row position lined up to score, he is great ball in hand.”
Since making the permanent switch back to Widnes, Lawton has hit the ground running for his hometown club scoring 6 tries in 10 appearances, including a hat-trick against Toulouse as the Vikings secured a memorable league double over the French club.
A player with ability in abundance, Adam looks to be back to his best, enjoying his Rugby once more. He will no doubt be a lethal weapon in the coming weeks for Widnes as they look to secure their place in the Championship play-offs.
Colemans conundrum
Meanwhile it was confirmed by Allan Coleman several key players have returned to full fitness ahead of this weeks all important clash with Halifax at the Shay.
A win for Widnes would see them leap above Halifax in the table and enter the final round of fixtures with the clubs play-off destiny in their own hands.
Speaking in an interview, Coleman confirmed that in form Centre Joe Edge will be back in contention for the Halifax game, whilst Liam Bent, Rhodri Lloyd and Gav Bennion could have all played a part against Hunslet.
Commenting on his team selection against Hunslet Coleman said “The selection was to reward the performance of the players at Featherstone.”
“Liam Bent, Rhodri Lloyd and Gav Bennion was all available this week, Joe Edge also comes back into contention for the weekend against Halifax, so that is four quality players, I am unsure if there will be changes this week until I have watched the video of the Hunslet game.”
It has been a turbulent season on the injury front throughout 2025 for Widnes, but Allan Coleman will be delighted with the options at his disposal as the race for the play-offs approaches its conclusion.
