Leeds Rhinos' barren run of form continued this afternoon with a shock 38-24 defeat against strugglers Widnes Vikings at the Select Security Stadium.

Some solid early pressure from the hosts allowed Chris Clarkson to power over against his parent club to open the scoring with just his second try of the season.

The Rhinos showed good character to respond just five minutes later, though, after Stevie Ward found a gap to touch down and level things up.

Joel Moon helped complete the early turnaround by capitalising on a lucky bounce of the ball to find the whitewash for try number four of the campaign, but this time it was the Wire who dug deep and forced their way back into the contest thanks to a great attacking move finished off by Stefan Marsh.

A try apiece prior to the interval, the first coming through Joel Mellor before Kallum Watkins cancelled it out, ensured that the contest remained tight heading into the break.

It was Widnes, with one win in their last five coming into this game, who pushed on in the early stages of the second half, racking up two tries through Danny Galea and Manase Manuokafoa to put some distance between themselves and the league leaders.

Brian McDermott's charges were not ready to give up, though, and once more they hit back through Jimmy Keinhorst, and a second for Watkins cut the deficit to just four points.

There was to be no comeback in the remaining 20 minutes, however, as Chris Dean and replacement Aaron Heremaia added a further couple of tries to cement the impressive win.

Leeds, now winless in three games, remain top despite the setback, while the Vikings are up to ninth place.