LONDON VAUXHALL DEALERS

Jun 11 2012 by Daniel Mckenzie, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

A LAST-GASP Antonio Kaufusi try denied Widnes their first away win of the season against London at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday.

The Broncos prop touched down in the final seconds of the match to lift his side above the Vikings and off the foot of the Super League table.

Widnes were on the back foot for large periods of the game – especially in the first half – but went into the break level at 12-12 and lead by two points going into the final minute.

Then, with the final play of the game, Kafusi powered his way through an exhausted Widnes defence to break the hearts of the hundreds of travelling Vikings fans.

The Vikings got off to a flying start and Cameron Phelps opened the scoring after two minutes.

Phelps, again playing at full-back in Shaun Briscoe's absence, burst onto John Clarke's well-timed pass to touch down to the right of the sticks. Ah Van added the extras.

But straight from the restart a Widnes mistake gifted London possession and the Vikings were made to work hard in defence to shut out three repeat sets.

The home side continued on the front foot and eventually turned pressure into points when Craig Gower touched down after 13 minutes. Jason Golden levelled the scores with the conversion.

After 20 minutes of stalemate, in which Widnes struggled to get out of their own half, London took the lead when Omari Caro finished off a well-worked last tackle move.

But the Vikings sparked into life in the closing stages of the half and Frank Winterstein popped up with a collector's item of a try seconds before the hooter.

Winterstein used all of his 18-stone frame to power his way to the line after Ah Van had gone close. The successful conversion meant the side's went in level at the break 12-12.

The Vikings started the second half in similar vein to the first, with Phelps again crossing in the early stages after good work by Jon Clarke.

The scores were level once again five minutes later when substitute forward Tony Clubb powered over a break by London's pacey winger Kieran Dixon.

Paddy Flynn then denied Dixon what looked to be a certain try with an outstanding last ditch tackle.

Widnes then had several chances to reestablish their lead in a long period of possession but first Paul McShane and then Ah Van had tries chalked off by referee Robert Hicks.

They did eventually get their noses in front however when Winterstein completed his brace with an hour played, latching onto Rhys Hanbury's precision pass.

Ah Van then had a chance to put a bit of daylight between the two sides but was off target with a penalty from 45m out.

Moments later Paddy Flynn came up with yet another try-saving tackle moments later, again denying Dixon and forcing the error.

And when Daniel Sarginson crossed for London with just seven minutes left to played, it looked as though the Vikings had been denied securing back-to-back victories for the first time this year.

But from the conversion Golden missed the chance to tie things up, leaving Widnes two points ahead with minutes to play.

However, with the final play of the match Antonio Kaufusi powered his way through the tiring Widnes defence to win the match for his team in the most dramatic fashion.

Vikings coach Dennis Betts said: “We have to stay philosophical about it. Last week we won a game in the last minute and this week we lose in the last minute.

“I thought we did enough to deserve something from the game, although we did have to spend a lot of our time defending and that took a lot of energy out of us.

“I'm really disappointed as this was a great opportunity to push ourselves away from the foot of the table and we have not taken it.”