London--Widnes Vikings coach Denis Betts is relishing the impact a confident Rhys Hanbury can have on his side after the Australian full-back inspired their biggest ever victory over Castleford Tigers.
Following a slow start to the season, which saw Widnes pick up just three wins in their opening ten Super League games, they looked a team reborn on Sunday.
Castleford -- without injured top try scorer Justin Carney -- could have gone fourth with a win but now sit seventh in the table, just one point ahead of Widnes.
That is in no small part down to former Wests Tigers man Hanbury, who scored two tries and created a handful of other openings in Sunday's 46-16 victory.
Patrick Ah Van also grabbed a pair of tries while Cameron Phelps went over late on to add some sheen to the scoreline and Betts was delighted with his side's performance.
"Rhys Hanbury had been playing well this year but his confidence, like our team's, had been affected because he wasn't doing quite the things everyone expected, but he was outstanding," said Betts.
"Alex Gerrard could be a future international forward. Alex worked himself to a standstill and Kevin Brown set up several tries.
"It was a game we really needed to win for our confidence and it moves us only one point behind Castleford now in a close league.
"I was a bit apprehensive before the game because we've had a tough couple of weeks and Castleford had been going well.
"We had not been defending badly, we just needed to sharpen up and we did that."
On Thursday, Wigan Warriors coach Shaun Wane revealed his joy in watching Ben Flower return from a six-month ban as they beat Warrington Wolves.
Flower, who punched St Helens' Lance Hohaia in last season's Grand Final, came off the bench to a warm reception from the Wigan fans, while Anthony Gelling scored what proved to be the winning try amid a Dom Manfredi hat-trick.
AFP
