Betts angry with Soliola after Brown clash

Widnes coach Denis Betts is distinctly unimpressed with the Sia Soliola tackle which injured Kevin Brown last week.

Although the Vikings stand off has been cleared to be in contention for the key game against Hull KR later this week, Betts is not pleased about the situation.

“Kevin is alright, he’s got no problems,” said Betts.

“It was just the initial shock of the hit and he couldn’t shake it off. We brought him off to assess him and I didn’t see a point of bringing him back on.”

Brown left the action during the first half of last week’s game against St Helens. That followed what looked like a shove from Soliola, when the Widnes man did not have the ball.

“He’s relaxed and the ball is well away from him. It’s foul play, you can’t do that to somebody without the ball,” added Betts.

“It was a whack but it was strange because Soliola got his hands up and he shoves Kev in the back when he’s facing the other way, which gives him a bit of whiplash.

“He shoved him into an onrushing player and they clashed knees, bone on bone.

“In essence, is it dirty? No. But is it dangerous? Very, and he was stood near the referee so it just isn’t in the spirit of the game to shove someone in the back and it was very very late.”

Betts was also surprised that Soliola did not receive any kind of censure or sanction for the tackle.

“I was hoping that Soliola would get a warning because of all the things about head injury issues,” the coach added.

“When you watch it and you see the whiplash it causes to Kevin, that’s what causes the most damage to the neck and around the shoulder.

“Kev was relaxed, he’d passed the ball and the ball is well away from him. Soliola is a tough, hard player but he just shoves him in the back on a player who isn’t expecting it.

“It’s foul play, you can’t do that to somebody without the ball.”