This weekend rugby league landed at St James’s Park in Newcastle for the Dacia Magic Weekend festival with all twelve sides playing out round fourteen in front of the SKY cameras, a good stadium crowd, and the countries sports media.

First up was the Saturday lunchtime encounter between bottom of the table Widnes Vikings and sixth placed Wakefield Trinity. It was the Yorkshire side who were the firm favourites to continue the Vikings misery.

The big news was the Widnes debut of the troubled Rangi Chase, signed mid-week on loan from the Castleford Tigers for the remainder of the season, could he be the catalyst for a Vikings change of fortune?

As the sides took the field, from the special Magic Weekend shirts it looked more like Newcastle United against Barcelona, than Widnes and Wakefield. But the conditions were far from meditteranean as the rain greeted the sides to the arena.

It was an intriguening opening fifteen minutes with defences on top but no shortage of flair in attack from both sides. Wakefield had started to get the upper hand and on seventeen Scott Grix went over from acting half-back after a superb eighty metre Ben Jones-Bishop break off an intercepted Rangi Chase pass. Liam Finn added the extra two for a 6-0 lead.

On twenty-two Reece Lyne walked in Wakefield’s second when he took a Jacob Miller bullet pass to go through a big gap from within ten metres of the line. Finn missed the conversion attempt.

On thirty-three it was all too easy for Trinity as Scott Grix ran the angle to carve through the Vikings defence and dive over by the left corner flag. Finn converted from the touchline for 16-0.

The sin-binning of Viking Lloyd White, for a dangerous lift, a few minutes out from the interval made the task even more difficult for Widnes.

Just over a minute after the restart and Ben Jones-Bishop grounded a one-handed try off a Grix pass in the right corner, after Widnes had spilled the kick-off. Liam Finn goaled brilliantly from the touchline and at 22-0 it was now a mountain for the Vikings to climb.

Widnes got their first of the afternoon on forty-six when Ryan Ince found the space on the line after an Ed Chamberlain back-handed pass to round and improve the angle for the Chamberlain conversion for 22-6.

Just after the hour mark Finn kicked a penalty after interference in the tackle to extent the lead to 24-6 and seven minutes later Jones-Bishop grabbed his second of the afternoon thanks to a Grix intercept after a period of Widnes pressure. Finn failed to convert.

On seventy-three Matty Ashurst scored the sixth Trinity try of the afternoon and the Finn conversion made it 34-6. A Hep Cahill try on seventy-six for the vikings was scant consolation and the Chamberlain conversion made the final score 34-12 and a comprehensive Wakefield victory.

Trinity are now up to fifth in the table and will be hoping for a Warrington victory over Wigan in this evenings fixture to ensure that they finish the weekend poised just outside the all important top four.

For Widnes it's probably time to start planning for survival in the middle eights.

Vikings: Hanbury, Ince (T), Chamberlain (2G), Runciman, Johnson, Johnstone, Chase, Buchanan, Heremaia, Dudson, Houston, Wilde, Cahill (T). Subs: O’Carroll, White (SB), Gerrard, Manuokafoa.

Trinity: Grix (2T), Jones-Bishop (2T), Lyne (T), Arundel, Caton-Brown, Miller, Finn (5G), England, Wood, Fifita, Ashurst (T), Kirmond, Arona. Subs: Tupou, Hirst, Huby, Batchelor.

Referee: Chris Kendall.

Half-Time: 0-16.

Full-Time: 12-34.

Attendance: .