Denis Betts delighted with Widnes defence against Leeds

Widnes coach Denis Betts said he was impressed with his sides defence in their win over Leeds.

The Vikings came from being 6-4 behind at half-time to score 19 unanswered points in the second half to seal a good 23-6 victory at home on Sunday.

And Betts was pleased with Widnes’ effort in defence especially.

“It was a great win,” he said.

“I’m really pleased that we kept Leeds to one score, which was just a fall over try from dummy-half so that’s an impressive thing to do against any Leeds side.

“You have got to give Leeds a lot of credit as well with the changes they had and the last couple of weeks they’ve had. They are a champion side and you’ve always got to play well to beat them.

“They’ve got the determination this year to not lie down and I thought we made mistakes in the first half which would have hurt us in the past against a side like Leeds. We resat ourselves really well and kept churning out the things that we do and we got a well-deserved result.”

New signing Krisnan Inu put in a man of the match performance, with the New Zealand international scoring two tries and kicking three goals.

And the centre received praise from the Vikings boss.

“I work well with him and he knows how to respond to the things that I demand and he’s delivering,” Betts said.

“Krisnan has got the crowd on his side, who are chanting his name now, he is scoring tries and now he has decided that he wants to kick goals as well. Krisnan will be turning out on his own soon!

“I thought lots of people played well. I thought (Tom) Olbison was outstanding, Rhys Hanbury had his best game in a long time as well and Danny Walker came on and gave us lots of energy. Matt Whitley is maturing into an outstanding back-rower of the game.”

Betts revealed that he is hoping Lloyd White will be fit for next week’s clash at Wigan, with Alex Gerrard and Greg Burke also in contention to return.