Carney critcises Betts

Brian Carney says the RFL must punish Widnes coach Denis Betts for comments he made on Friday about referee Joe Cobb.

Betts slammed the performance of Cobb following his team’s defeat to Wakefield, where two players were sent off and three were sin-binned.

The TV pundit said the RFL cannot not allow Betts to get away with his attack.

“Widnes are currently in the worst losing streak any club has had this year and he wasn’t able to handle the pressure that brings on Friday night,” Carney told Sky.

“He savaged a referee when perhaps the blame lies closer to home. Has he ever used comments like that in private to one of his players about their performance? I doubt it.

“Has he ever had one of his coaching performances described in such terms? I doubt it.”

“The RFL can forget about claiming to protect referees if they don’t eliminate that type of unfair, bullying and factually incorrect type of verbal assault on a referee.

“While it is most unlike Denis, who is normally circumspect in his analysis of a referee, it is yet another tedious example of blame for defeat being slung unfairly at the feet of officials.”