Sunday 21 September 2014 09:05, UK
Warrington coach Tony Smith revealed there is real concern over full-back Matty Russell following his side's 22-19 Super League play-off victory over Widnes at the Halliwell Jones stadium.
Russell was stretchered from the field in the second half following a sickening collision with Vikings loose forward Macgraff Leuluai.
Smith said: "Matty is on his way to hospital, he was straight into an ambulance and is pretty smashed up.
"At the minimum he is going to lose some teeth, his nose is smashed and he was unconscious for a long time and we are concerned.
"The replay of the incident which they (the RFL) will play over and over and over is no use to me and I don't have any say in what happens from that. It was strange they ended putting it on report and it took some time for that to happen and looks like somebody changed their mind along the track there."
Regarding his side's victory, Smith was delighted how his side recovered from 18 points down to move into the next round of the play-offs.
"I was really happy how the team performed second half and they should be proud of themselves," he said.
"In the first half we didn't build a game and there were too many soft mistakes and soft errors in positions which gave Widnes the advantage and they took their advantage and did it well with some smart stuff and they deserved their lead.
"But at no stage did we feel the game was ever going to be lost even at 18-0 down. We knew when we had the ball and put some plays on and make them do some work we could score some tries and our defence also improved when we applied pressure with the ball.
"We got the momentum right from the onset of the second half and built the game like we would like to have done in the first half and once we did that it was hard for Widnes to stop us."
Smith also praised the contribution of the Monaghan brothers, hat-trick hero Joel and captain Michael, whose parents were over from Australia to watch the game.
Smith added: "Michael played a really good role from the bench and together with Joel, who led the team out today, their experience and calmness and what they have been able to do for us helped control the game.
"For the brothers both to be captains on the same day and their mother and father both being over from Australia it was a proud day for them."
Widnes coach Denis Betts said the defeat was a "tough one to take" after appearing in control of proceedings.
The Vikings led 18-0 at one stage in the first half and 19-6 at half-time but failed to add to their tally in the second half.
Betts said: "It was a performance high on effort and energy we would just liked to have had that closure.
"We let them in the door just before half-time with an error which we were unable to defend and they scored in the corner. That gave them a lift and they came out in the second half and performed really well.
"We spoke in the week about these kind of games when it's knockout rugby league and everyone has to play well which we did in the first half but just had a couple drop off in the second half.
"The boys are massively disappointed, they worked hard for each other and hard enough to get the result and it's a tough one to take."
