Wakefield Trinity 34 Widnes Vikings 12: Trinity shine in Magic Weekend opener

Trinity had the game in the bag by half-time when they led 16-0, through a brace of tries by Scott Grix and one for Reece Lyne.

Ben Jones-Bishop crossed twice after the interval and Matty Ashurst also touched down as Trinity easily saw off Super League’s bottom club.

Widnes defended solidly in the opening stages with Rhys Hanbury tackling Mason Caton-Brown into touch a few metres out and Jack Johnson doing the same to Jones-Bishop.

But after 18 minutes a loose pass from Chase - who joined Widnes this week from Castleford Tigers - was intercepted by Jones-Bishop.

He glided clear but was brilliantly tackled by Ryan Ince, who had a spell on loan at Hunslet earlier in the season.

That was only a temporary reprieve though as Grix went over from acting-half and Liam Finn converted.

Three minutes later Jack Buchanan knocked on near his own line and Jacob Miller put Lyne through a gap in the resulting set.

That was unconverted, but Finn landed a touchline conversion after Grix dummied over for his second from Ashurst’s pass after the No 7’s kick had been fumbled by Johnson to concede a scrum close to the Widnes line.

That came after Vikings’ only spell of pressure, an error by Caton-Brown leading to a goal line drop out and two penalties.

Eamon O’Carroll got over the line twice, but was held up both times. Widnes were reduced to 12 men two minutes before the interval when Lloyd White was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Caton-Brown.

Trinity made the extra man count a minute after the break. Manase Manuokafoa knocked on returning the kick off and in the resulting set Jones-Bishop dived over at the corner from Grix’s pass.

Finn landed another touchline goal, but Widnes broke their duck moments later when Ince skipped round Grix from a neat pass by Ed Chamberlain, who added the extras to make it 22-6.

Widnes applied some pressure after that and might have made a game of it if Alex Gerrard had managed to get to his own kick after a Trinity error.

But Finn landed a penalty to open an 18-point gap on the hour and Jones-Bishop touched down from Lyne’s pass after Ashurst, Grix and Caton-Brown had counter-attacked following heavy pressure on their own line.

Ashurst then romped over from a terrible pass by Chase near his own line, Finn converting, but Hep Cahill scored a consolation try for Widnes three minutes from time and Chamberlain’s conversion completed the scoring.