Betts wants a better Widnes

Widnes coach Denis Betts knows that his team must improve if they are to beat Warrington this Friday.

The Chemics were edged out 12-10 away at Wakefield last week, and Betts wants to see a particular improvement in defence for Friday’s home derby.

“What we’ve got to do is to be better,” he said.

“We know we’ve got to be better defensively, because Warrington are going to ask a lot of more searching questions of us, when they’ve got the ball.

“They’re hard to stop, they score points from all over the field, they’ve got very dynamic and very strong runners of the ball.

“They’ve also got some very skilful players in their side who can open up defences.

“So I know the questions they’re going to ask are going to be a lot tougher to answer, so we know we’ve got to be better defensively.

“We also know that our attack has got to be so much better than last week, with our purpose and our undertanding of where we are on the field, and what we have to do.”

“Their form is fantastic, and our’s is not great. But it is what it is. It’s a local derby game, there’s a lot at stake, there’ll be emotions.

“I think what you’ve seen over the last two years with these kind of games is that the side that turns up with the right attitude usually comes away with the points.

“I think that’s what we need to drive into the players. I’m sure Tony Smith is talking about the same kind of thing to his players.”

Betts is also hoping that his players feed on some of the passions which will surround this battle for local bragging rights.

“We need to use that emotion to match Warrington. Emotional drivers in the game are very important. What you can’t do is you can’t let those emotions control everything,” he explained.

“You need them in the game, but you can’t let them rule the game.”

After recent refereeing controversies, Betts would prefer the man in the middle to be more anonymous on Friday evening.

“I’m hoping that there’s nothing controversial in this game,” he said.

“I’m hoping that the referee can show some consistency in his decisions, and there’s nothing controversial that affects the game massively.”