The BIGGEST OF BETTS
Vikings boss knows pressure is on his team for survival shootout in Perpignan
Catalans v Widnes Super 8s qualifier, 5.15pm DENIS BETTS knows his players must deal with the stress of their Super League survival shootout in Perpignan.
The winner of the Vikings’ clash with Steve McNamara’s Catalans will secure their top-flight status for 2018 after difficult campaigns for both of them.
The loser then faces a sudden-death Million Pound Game with Leigh Centurions next Saturday – and Betts is keen to avoid that prospect at all costs.
Betts said: “This is what the Super 8s concept wanted, big game after big game after big game.
“Everything is on the line and everything matters and we’ve got to that stage of the year now.
“The winner walks home and the loser goes to the Million Pound Game. We wanted to be in control of our own destiny and we do that by winning games.
“The players know it’s a big game – they’re on social media, they recognise where we are in the table.
“We normalise it in the sense of how we approach training and work towards our processes.
“Anxiety is a part of it – how we deal with it is massive.
“But we understand that they’re at home, they’re a big side with a big budget and nobody expected them to be there. There’s pressure on them as well.”
Betts is without key hooker Lloyd White after he tore his hamstring while kicking a conversion against London last weekend, in an incident that summed up the Vikings’ injury-hit campaign.
The Widnes coach added: “He’s a big loss – he’s one of our better players.
“But we’ve got Aaron Heremaia coming back this week and the young lad Danny Walker has been
sensational – he’s picked the pace up massively.
“It seems to have been the theme of our year. We had four games where we were picking the same side, went to a real big game at Leigh and had a fantastic win.
“But then we lose three of our big players in that game and two the week after.
“This week we’ve lost Lloyd – but it’s all setting itself up for that ‘big challenge story’.
“We’d like to have been at home, but the way the fixtures works we’re not – our league form this season dictated that we were at the bottom of the table.
“This gives us another opportunity to climb out of that situation and keep our status in Super League.
“It all comes down to a massive game in Perpignan.”