Widnes Vikings head coach Denis Betts has admitted that his side were "outplayed" by Castleford Tigers in today's 28-6 Challenge Cup semi-final defeat.

The Tigers racked up two tries in the opening nine minutes at the Halton Stadium, and they did not look back on their way to recording a convincing victory.

"There wasn't much in it early on, but we were finding ourselves second best for a lot of the contact areas," Betts is quoted as saying by Totalrl.

"We made a couple of errors and they scored a try. We dropped the ball off a real simple kick and it's 10-0 before we've even got into the game. They started to play with the ball a bit better from then on and we couldn't get any good field position.

"If I'm honest I thought Cas played really well; they kicked well and played with energy, and we ended up being second best. You've got to hold your hands up some time and admit you've been outplayed."

Castleford will now face Leeds Rhinos at Wembley in the final.