Denis Betts: ‘Wigan bullied and battered Widnes in second half’
Widnes coach Denis Betts says his side got bullied and battered in the second half by the physicality of Wigan.
The Vikings led 16-0 until the 39th minute at the DW Stadium on Friday night following tries from Matt Whitley and Stefan Marsh as well as four goals from Tom Gilmore.
The Warriors stepped up a gear though and then scored 32 unanswered points, with tries coming from Joe Burgess, Ryan Sutton, Tommy Leuluai, Liam Farrell, Sam Tomkins and Tom Davies.
Speaking after the game, Betts said: “We showed some energy but we gave Wigan too many chances and we can’t give them as much ball as we did and expect not to run out of energy.
“We can’t not kick the ball in touch when we get penalties and we can’t drop the ball on the first play when we have been under the cosh. We worked really hard but we just ran out of steam and punch.
“We got bullied in the second half, we got run over the top of and we got battered by a very physical side. They’ve got some good players in their team and they have got some pretty big boys and they taught us a lesson in the second half by running hard and tackling hard.
“We lost the penalty count badly, we lost the ball loads in the first half and we ended up 16-4 in front and they scored on the last play of the first half. We did some really good stuff in the first half but we still didn’t help ourselves with our field position and the territory that we gave Wigan.”
Widnes have had two five-day turnarounds already this season, against Warrington Wolves two weeks ago and Wigan this week.
And Betts has slammed the fixture schedule, deeming it not fair.
He added: “I had three lads coming back and we were on a five-day turnaround again.
“It’s not an equal playing field when you have got two sides playing each other who have had different turnarounds at different stages of the week. That’s just unfair.
“It happens and you have got to get on with it but we have done it twice this year so far and both times we have ended up running out of steam, we did it against Warrington and we’ve done it again against Wigan. It’s just hard to go from Sunday to Friday.
“We put a fight up but the best team won in the end – they bullied and battered us.”