WIDNES Vikings face their toughest test of the season so far this weekend - a week after easing through to the next round of the Betfred Challenge Cup.

Relegated Super League side Toulouse Olympique will be the visitors to the DCBL Stadium on Saturday, kick-off 3pm.

The French outfit head to town sitting in second place in the Championship, having lost only one of their five league games so far - a 28-18 fall at Bradford Bulls.

John Kear's Vikings, fifth on the ladder with three wins from five, will go into the contest having rested a chunk of their top-end squad last weekend for the Challenge Cup third-round clash with amateurs Wests Warriors.

The black and whites outgunned the London-based Southern Conference League champions 80-4, with Joe Edge scoring 28 points thanks to two tries and 10 goals.

Also achieving braces of tries were Brad Holroyd, Ollie Brookes, Aaron Brown, Matt Fleming and Ryan Ince, with Callum Field, Olly Davies and Ant Walker completing the try-scoring list.

As a result of that success, Vikings will be away to League One side Dewsbury Rams in the fourth round on the weekend of April 1/2.

The winner of that contest will then be away to either London Broncos or Doncaster in the fifth round on the weekend of April 22/23.

And the winner of the fifth-round tie will also go straight into the semi-finals of the 1895 Cup, which has its final at Wembley.

Vikings' last outing in the league resulted in a 42-12 loss at third-placed Sheffield Eagles, so Kear and his men will be looking to put matters right from that day when they host Toulouse.

Widnes' only other defeat in the Championship so far was a close call, a 14-12 fall at Bradford Bulls.