A BARNSTORMING last 13 minutes saw the Vikings maintain their unbeaten start in the Northern Rail Cup with a 44-28 win over Toulouse Olympique at Stobart Stadium Halton.

An enterprising French side led 28-22 up to that point and were probably good value for it.

Gilles Dumas's men had bombed several other try-scoring opportunities particularly in the first half.

But Widnes kept themselves in the contest and may point to superior fitness as the deciding factor as they ran in four late tries to emerge victorious.

The Vikings started the game on the attack but were hit with a sucker punch on four minutes when Australian scrum-half Josh Lewis intercepted and raced 95 metres to score.

Skipper Dave Allen soon hit back for Widnes, forcing his way over for the second week running but the visitors were beginning to look sharp with ball in hand.

It came as no surprise when hard-running centre Sebastian Planas crossed to make it 12-6.

The Vikings levelled once more when interpassing between Paddy Flynn and Anthony Thackeray up the short side saw the latter cross for a six-pointer but there was still a feeling that Toulouse could strike at any time.

It came as no surprise when winger Gregory White exploited some shaky blindside defence to give his side a deserved 16-12 interval lead.

Things looked even bleaker for Widnes when Olympique stand-off Darren Nicholls crossed seven minutes into the second period to make it 22-12.

It was crucial the Vikings scored next and centre Tangi Ropati stepped up to do just that.

Thackeray then dummied his way in from 15 metres in typical style to nullify the lead but it lasted only ten minutes before Bruno Ormeno snatched it back at 28-22.

It looked like a nerve-wracking finish was in the offing but Toulouse appeared to hit the wall in terms of fitness.

Steve Tyrer cut inside to score on 67 minutes for Widnes and with the several of the visitors showing clear signs of fatigue, the Vikings went for the jugular.

Kirk Netherton backed up to score after fine work by Thackeray and Allen, before Chris Gerrard and Ben Kavanagh went over in quick succession to send the Vikings faithful home happy.

Tyrer finished with six conversions to his credit.

With two wins out of two, Denis Betts' men are now in pole position to qualify from from Northern Rail Cup Pool A.

Widnes: Craven; Flynn, Ropati (1t), Tyrer (1t,6g), Thackeray (2t), Coyle; Kavanagh (1t), Netherton (1t), Heckenberg, Allen (1t), Leuluai, K Haggerty. Subs: Varkulis, Gerrard (1t), Grady, Frodsham.