Widnes Vikings thrash Hull FC to go top of Super League
Widnes (24) 46
Tries: Mellor, Thompson 2, Marsh 3, Hanbury, Brown, Whitley Goals: Hanbury 5
Hull FC (6)
Tries: Pritchard Goals: Sneyd
Stefan Marsh scored a hat-trick as Widnes beat Hull FC to go two points clear at the top of Super League.
Frank Pritchard went over for the visitors, but Joe Mellor and Corey Thompson responded to put Widnes ahead.
Marsh, Rhys Hanbury, Kevin Brown and Thompson added further tries as the hosts claimed a fifth win in six games.
Marsh dived over for his second try and Matt Whitley ran in his first of the season before Marsh crossed in the left corner to complete his treble.
The former Wigan winger's hat-trick was his first in Super League since September 2014, while leading try-scorer Thompson took his tally for the season to 10.
Hull FC had three tries overturned by the video referee as they controlled the game early on, but they lacked creativity inside the final 10 metres.
Lee Radford's side were undone by their inability to cope with Widnes' kicking game, as Kevin Brown and Joe Mellor combined to create three tries with the boot, while Jamie Shaul spilled a high kick to set up Brown's second-half try.
Vikings dominated after half-time to wrap up a convincing victory and move on to 10 points in the table, two ahead of Warrington and Wigan in second and third respectively.
Hull FC slipped below Salford to seventh thanks to a third consecutive defeat.
Widnes coach Dave Betts:
"Kevin Brown was on a drip yesterday because he was ill, he was massively dehydrated and his blood count was down.
"He's the leader of this group and he was fantastic for us. I say it every week: he's never under-performed since he's been here.
"I wasn't expecting to score that many points. We rode our luck early.
"The players were excited by the team Hull put out. They were excited by the challenge and they rose to it."
Hull FC coach Lee Radford:
"We simply capitulated and it's my responsibility as a coach.
"As a rugby player you're told to compete and that stopped being a competition after 20 minutes.
"To have no fightback was embarrassing and the staff have just been kicked out of the changing room by the players.
"I've no idea why they asked us to leave - they just asked us to. It's never happened in my career before."
Widnes Vikings: Hanbury, Thompson, Bridge, Runciman, Marsh, Mellor, Brown, O'Carroll, White, Manuokafoa, Dean, Houston, Cahill.
Replacements: Heremaia, Gerrard, Leuluai, Whitley.
Hull FC: Shaul, Michaels, Logan, Tuimavave, Talanoa, Abdull, Sneyd, Taylor, Houghton, Bowden, Manu, Pritchard, Ellis.
Replacements: Thompson, Minichiello, Washbrook, Watts.
Referee: Richard Silverwood.
Super League, officially the First Utility Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the top-level professional rugby league club competition in Europe. The league has twelve teams: eleven from England and one from France. The current champions are Leeds Rhinos.
Super League began in 1996, replacing the RFL Championship and switching from a winter to a summer season. Each team plays 23 games between February and July: 11 home games, 11 away games and a Magic Weekend game at a neutral venue. At the end of the season, the top eight teams enter a Super 8 stage, playing each other once more. The top four then enter the play-off series leading to the Grand Final (formerly Championship Final) which determines the champions.
The average Super League match attendance was 8,365 in 2014.[1] The Super League champions play the National Rugby League (NRL) champions from Australasia in the World Club Challenge.
