Leeds Rhinos endured a nightmare Valentines Day at the Select Security Stadium as they found themselves on the end of a heavy defeat and lost three players in the first half to serious leg injuries.

The Rhinos had lost Danny McGuire in the opening game of the season to a knee injury and within forty minutes the skipper was joined on the sidelines by Tom Briscoe, Carl Ablett and Ashton Golding.
 
Leeds fell behind after six minutes when Stef Marsh finished off outwide for the Vikings after Liam Sutcliffe had been penalised in the previous set.
 
The Rhinos did well to repel a Joe Mellor break soon after but when Kallum Watkins lost the ball early in the next set. Widnes made them pay. Having gained a repeat set when Briscoe attempted an intercept to stop a certain try, a quick pass from dummy half put Sa over between the posts. Rhys Hanbury converted both tries to make it 12-0 after 11 minutes.
 
 Keith Galloway was penalised in midfield on the next set and once again Widnes were clinical as a clever offload by Sa put Corey Thompson away down the touchline to score. Hanbury missed the conversion attempt.
 
Leeds finally managed to get some time in possession after that following good work by Briscoe and Brett Ferres but they were unable to find a way over the home line.
 
Leeds then lost Briscoe as he had to be helped from the field and soon after he was followed by Ablett. The second row appeared to twist is ankle as he planted his foot to make a tackle. The gap that created was exploited by the Vikings and some brilliant offloading from Heremaia put White over to score. Hanbury had a simple conversion to give his side a 22-0 lead with still eleven minutes to go in the first half.
 
Soon after Golding, who had looked impressive after coming on off the bench, was helped off the field and in the re-organisation that followed, the Vikings broke through again and this time Runciman finished off. Hanbury gave his side a 28-0 lead with three minutes to go in the half.
 
Leeds finally got off the mark with the final play of the first half as Kallum Watkins touched down in the corner for his seventh try against the Vikings in six meetings. Jordan Lilley added the conversion from the touchline to make it 28-6 at the break.
 
The Rhinos found themselves with a mountain to climb and it got worse when Kevin Brown broke through on halfway before a long bouncing pass was collected by Thompson for his second try of the game. Hanbury was on target again.
 
The Vikings were in complete control now and it was not long before they scored again. This time Mellor made the most of the break to touch down before Thompson completed his hat trick as a grubber kick bounced over the top of Hall and the winger was on hand to touch down. Hanbury added the conversion fro-m the touchline.
 
Connor Farrell then brought up the half century for the home side before Marsh raced through onto a kick to touch down for his second try of the game to make it 56-6 with less than ten minutes to play.
 
Leeds managed to get a score back when Rob Burrow supported a break by Joel Moon. The try was converted by Lilley but it was scant consolation on a bitterly disappointing afternoon for the Champions.