McCormack praises Swinton work rate

Steve McCormack praised Swinton’s work rate and commitment after losing 28-6 to Widnes in front of 1488 fans at Leigh Sports Village on Sunday.

The Lions, promoted to the Championship this season, produced an impressive performance against their Super League opponents.

“I’m pretty proud of the effort and the way we played,” said the Swinton coach.

“The first 20 minutes we looked like a team on our first hit-out.

“Widnes controlled the first 20 and you could probably see that they had had a game prior to us.

“They controlled the ball and kicked the ball well and all we did was defend.

“That probably took its toll at the end of the game because in the last 10 minutes they ran in a couple of tries.

“In the middle part of the game we competed really well with a Super League team.

“We don’t like losing but being very realistic it was a massive effort by our team.”

Widnes led 10-0 at half-time with tries from Stefan Marsh and Paddy Flynn and a conversion from Patrick Ah Van.

They increased their lead with a try and conversion from Danny Craven before the Lions got on the scoresheet.

Sam Reay went over from Ian Mort in the 58th minute and Mort landed the conversion from the touchline.

The Lions tired towards the end and Widnes went in for two late tries from Rhys Hanbury and Kurt Haggerty with Lloyd White adding both conversions.