Rugby league internationals Sean O’Loughlin and Thomas Leuluai made their debuts for the Wigan first team which no doubt had selection implications that would affect the second team as well, with the home side naming eight replacements.

The first kick off of the game was fielded by the Widnes number eight Allan Breeden. The impressive back rower preceded to race 75 yards beating a winger and the fullback on his way to opening the scoring inside for the first 16 seconds of the game. Lewie McIntosh added the extras to give the Wids a dream start.

After a back and forward 20 minutes, it was the Wids who grabbed the next score. Some sustained pressure in the Wigan half would finally tell. When a miss ball found Josh Argent under pressure some fast feet allowed him to beat his opposite man and create some space through the Wigan line. The ever-reliable Chris Morgan was on hand to back up to take a smart ball from Argent, the scrum half stepping the full back on his way to the try line.

Widnes would spend the majority of the half in Wigan territory. The away side were in again with an important try before half time. More pressure in the Wigan 22 resulted in a poor Wigan clearance kick straight down the middle of the field. Man of the match Alex Jones gathered the kick and returned the ball with some real pace. Using his winger, he managed to dummy his way through and get the ball down despite a covering tackle. Lewie McIntosh added the extras to leave Widnes firmly in the driving seat at 19 - 0 at half time.

Widnes started the second half brightly as Captain Ben McQuillan’s interception and kick and great chase from winger Nathan Chandler got the Wids a penalty in the opposition 22. Further pressure would see Liam Wilde take a Kevin Leadbetter pass; the prop forward grabbing his first try of the season from close range.

Widnes were in again after the hour mark. Another flowing backs move from a lineout reached Chandler with 20 yards to the line and 3 defenders to beat. The South African somehow managing to beat all three with an excellent finish out wide. Another McIntosh conversion pushed the away side 31 - 0 ahead.

The away side would get the final say in the game as they managed to get two push over tries from close range in the final few minutes to complete the scoring.

Head coach Dan Newall once again thought it was his side’s defensive efforts that set the platform for a well-deserved win.

“I thought that was such a solid performance again today. We defended so well last week and with such enthusiasm, we had to back that up again today. We had seen them name 8 on the bench with the two rugby league lads in their first team so we knew to expect a really tough hard game and I thought we reacted and responded really well to that.

The big two words we spoke about after last week’s performance was organisation and consistency. With Kevin Leadbetter in the side you get both. The way he can control games even from 12 and the way he got our backs working was fantastic. He works with the younger lads really well and hopefully they can take from the experience of playing alongside him.

We played some really good attacking rugby; we moved the ball really well across the backline and gave ourselves a lot of chances out wide. Nathan Chandler just seems to get better and better every week he plays. He was just pipped to man of the match by Alex Jones who in only his third game back after 18 months out with a broken leg was brilliant at fullback.

The forwards deserve a lot of credit again as well the defensive effort from them really helped us control the game with getting the ball back in really good areas. The set piece again was excellent our scrum and lines the last two weeks have been a major reason for our success.

We didn’t have everything our own way today we had four cry offs between Friday night and Saturday morning and had to change things up a bit from the named team. While it’s a real frustration, it does give others the opportunity to come in and shine; for example, Chris Morgan who came in off the bench to start and had a good game at scrum half.

I was disappointed with the way we closed the game conceding two tries in the last 10 minutes wasn’t ideal but we were so pleased with the effort and the performance today we just want to keep this momentum going now.”

The Seconds return to Heath Road next Saturday, when Liverpool Collegiate are the visitors.