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6 hours ago | Rhys Sullivan
Salford continued Widnes eight game winless run with a 18-12 victory in the opening contest of Magic Weekend.
The Vikings looked on course to break their rut after leading by as much as eight in the contest before they eventually fell away.
Widnes looked to create some space between themselves and the bottom four thanks to Rhys Hanbury and Chris Bridges tries. Hanbury added three goals in the half to take a 12-4 lead into the sheds.
Salford came out renewed after the break and piled on the pressure. Wingers Justin Carney and Daniel Vidot crossed to push the Red Devils back ahead.
Gareth O'Brien added a late penalty goal for the Red Devils to confirm the 18-12 victory and start off Magic weekend in a tense manner.
Salford Red Devils (18)
Tries: Daniel Vidot, Justin Carney
Goals: Gareth O'Brien 2, Michael Dobson 1
Widnes Vikings (12)
Tries: Chris Bridge, Rhys Hanbury
Goals: Rhys Hanbury 2
Warrington dominated the opening half hour of the match with the Wolves dominating all facets of play with domination in attack and after an intercept try to Stefan Ratchford followed by Kurt Gidley strolling through poor defence to take the score out to 10-0 after 9 minutes. The Wolves continued to be dominant but they managed to perform a butcher job on at least 6 opportunities on their opponents line and it wasn't until an 80m effort from Matty Smith and Ben Currie to score and push the lead out to 14-0.
Castleford fought back inside the final 10 minutes with two spectacular tries and after conversions the game headed to half time at 14-12, a scoreline that didn't reflect the dominance of Warrington.
The second half was a continuance of the Castleford momentum run with the Tigers putting on 22 unanswered points over the competition leaders which was lead by Luke Gale and in that burst tries went to Mike McMeekan, Solomona and Luke Dorn.
Castleford were also tested late in the match but their defence was too strong for some stumbling Warrington attack.
Warrington Wolves (14)
Tries: Stefan Ratchford, Kurt Gidley, Ben Currie
Goals: Kurt Gidley 1
Castleford Tigers (34)
Tries: Luke Dorn 2, Denny Solomona 2, Grant Millington, Mike McMeeken
Goals: Luke Gale 5
It was another tough day at the office for the Rhinos - but it didn't start too badly. Kallum Watkins opened the scoring after nine minutes to put the Rhinos up 4-0 early. That joy would be short lived with Wigan hitting back through Willie Isa in the 18th minute.
Referee Rob Hicks was substituted not long after Wigan's opening try with a hamstring complaint. Joe Cobb replaced Hicks with Liam Moore coming on as touch judge.
Wigan continued to apply the pressure and it tolled for Leeds at the 25-minute mark, when Isa bagged a double and with Matty Smith's conversion, the Warriors held a 12-4 lead which they would maintain to halftime.
The 2015 runners-up exacted their revenge swiftly after halftime, with both George Williams and Dominic Manfredi scoring within the opening ten minutes after resumption. Wigan suddenly led 22-4 and it was a long road back for the premiers.
The Warriors went on with the show - Ben Flower grabbed a try before the Rhinos hit back with a consolation try to Mitch Achurch, despite being a man down after seeing Zak Hardaker sin-binned for a professional foul.
Trailing 28-8 with fifteen to go, Leeds simply couldn't keep pace and Oliver Gildart & Dan Sarginson made sure of the result, each scoring four-pointers in the final five minutes.
Leeds Rhinos (8)
Tries: Kallum Watkins, Mitch Achurch
Wigan Warriors (40)
Tries: Willie Isa 2, George Williams, Dominic Manfredi, Ben Flower, Oliver Gildart, Dan Sarginson
Goals: Matty Smith 6
Day one attendance: 39,331