Vikings face a tough test in the land of the Giants (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Vikings face a tough test in the land of the Giants

4:42pm Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Vikings news

VIKINGS face the tough prospect of travelling to on-song Huddersfield on Sunday without skipper Jon Clarke.

But boss Denis Betts is hopeful that he will get one or two of injured trio Shaun Briscoe, Anthony Watts and Paddy Flynn back in time for the trip to the Galpharm Stadium.

After losing their opening game back in the top flight against Wakefield, Betts has made his players aware that life in Super League won’t be getting any easier.

At the time of going to press Vikings were still giving their injured stars time to prove their fitness.

Betts said: “The three players are going well but until we see them going full pelt in training I cannot say whether they will play.

“Jon Clarke won’t - he was tight with his hamstring before the game last week. We have to look after our top end players and make sure we get lots of games out of them.

“We can’t have them in and out and need to get strings of games out them to build some consistency.”

Huddersfield produced the performance of the round last weekend in toppling Wigan on their own midden with a powerful performance from their big pack and their linchpins.

“Huddersfield were fantastic and really took the game to Wigan at the weekend. I went to the game and I thought Danny Brough was really good, Larne Patrick and Eorl Crabtree were outstanding.

“It was a really upbeat performance they went out and attacked Wigan and played with the ball, which took away Wigan’s strengths in that middle ground.

“They are a consistent side and that shows in the tough games – it is not going to get any easier for us this week and will be a really tough test,” Betts said.

Vikings had plenty of ball on the Wakefield line last weekend, but were unable to convert that into points.

But Betts believes that they still have enough creativity in the side despite the absence of Clarke, possibly Watts and Thomas Coyle, who suffered a broken leg in the Valvoline Cup tie on Saturday.

Betts said: “We have still got player creativity in the side with Rhys Hanbury and Lloyd White, who has played international against New Zealand and Australian the halves.

“We have plenty of players who can be creative, but it is about building links and an understanding.”

Meanwhile the club have issued a strong defence of their new ipitch, after some criticism on Twitter from Wakefield players.

Betts said: “We don’t need to stand up for our pitch because it stands up for itself.

“As we start to play and the consistency of the surface becomes apparent and the talking point disappears and everyone will start to see the benefit.

“It is easy to look at the negatives and what was bad – and that is what is happening now because it is new and people don’t like change - but the positives will far outweigh them.

“In time when people see how far we have moved the game forward all that will be forgotten quite quickly.”