After slaying Dragons Speeding up our game was pivotal to success – Betts
WIDNES boss Denis Betts said the key to his side’s victory over Catalans was down to the Vikings controlling the tempo of the game.
Both sides were at the back end of a gruelling three-game period but it was Widnes who dealt best with the situation as they ran out 26-6 winners to move off the bottom of Super League for the first time in nine weeks.
And the main reason for the win, Betts felt, was because the Vikings were able to speed up play against the visiting French side, who have won just one of their last eight matches.
He said: “They were carrying knocks and injuries and so were we but we’ve come out on top. On another day we score 40 points against them.
“We tried to speed it up, they tried to slow it down but we eventually got the better of them.
“They were travelling and we knew how we had to get them by playing fast.
“We could have been further ahead and I believe we’ve failed to shut the game down.
“It was a battle of energy and a case of who was the least beaten up on the back of three games in 10 days.
“Their discipline fell away in the end and we made the most of that.”
Referee Ben Thaler showed yellow cards to Dragons duo Riche Myler and Sam Moa, but Betts felt Moa’s late shot on Aaron Heremaia should have been red.
He said: “I thought Ben Thaler got the penalties right but I thought the last card was a red one.
“I’ve seen it back and it should have been red.”
Jack Buchanan, Rhys Hanbury, Corey Thompson and Gil Dudson scored Widnes’s tries, but theirs were not the only contributions that impressed Betts.
He highlighted the performances of several other players, including star signing Rangi Chase.
He said: “Rangi has been ● great all the way through.
“He is a player with a vast skill set and the beauty with him is that he can just create things from nothing.
“We’ve tried to temper him and tell him not to win the game on his own and he’s understanding that.
“Rhys Hanbury is starting to get the timing right with him too.
“We are getting real value out of him and we are only really scratching the surface with him.
“Aaron Heremaia also played well with him and we have Tom Gilmore and Danny Craven coming back soon so all of a sudden we have players fighting for places.”
Catalans had taken an eighth-minute lead in the encounter through Moa’s converted try but they could not build on that and ended up suffering yet another loss.
Co-caretaker coach Jerome Guisset was far from impressed by Sunday’s showing and warned his players that “all our lives are going to change” unless they start producing.
He said: “We find ourselves in a very precarious position now.
“We are on the back end of some very tough calls but we cannot play the victim – we have to dig ourselves out of it.
“We played with 12 men for the third game in a row and we have to look at that.
“We are frustrated at the moment but we can only control what we can control.
“However, the players have to realise that if we do not stand up and work much harder during crucial times in games then all of our lives are going to change.
“I’ve been involved in the game a long, long time and we have to realise this.”
Fellow assistant Michael Monaghan added: “Desire could be (an issue).
“We are dealing with a lot of adversity at the moment with a short squad to pick from.
“I’m frustrated and I can understand why Jerome and the owner is frustrated as we are struggling with injuries at the moment and to be hit with yellow cards, left right and centre is just making it harder.
“We need to turn up with the right desire and want to improve.”