Adrian Lam berates video referee process after disallowed tries in Warrington Wolves win

Adrian Lam has become the latest Super League coach to take aim at the video referee process after Leigh were on the wrong end of some key first half decisions during Saturday’s win against Warrington Wolves.

The Leopards eventually ran out 18-14 winners on home soil to make it a happy Easter, but the afternoon could have been a much more comfortable one had they not seen two first half tries disallowed.

Both David Armstrong and captain Lachlan Lam were denied four-pointers by video referee Chris Kendall after on-field referee Tom Grant sent their efforts upstairs as tries.

First came Armstrong’s effort as he ran on to a kick through from Lam. On-field official Grant sent that upstairs for review following complaints from Warrington about an obstruction on Rodrick Tai from Frankie Halton, and Kendall overturned it.

Lam then kicked through and grounded for a try of his own, but after a very lengthy check, that was disallowed by Kendall for Gareth O’Brien’s involvement, harshly judged to have interfered having been within 10 metres of Lam as he kicked through.

Adrian Lam berates video referee process after disallowed tries in Warrington Wolves win

Edwin Ipape eventually saw a try allowed towards the end of the first half, and both Ethan O’Neill and Frankie Halton crossed at the other end early on in the second 40 to seal victory.

But those two video referee cals in the first half remained a hot topic in Leigh boss Lam’s post-match press conference, with the Leopards having also seen a captain’s challenge returned as ‘inconclusive’ prior to the break.

Lam said: “I couldn’t really see what they said about Lokie Lam’s try, I wasn’t sure whether someone was in the 10, but the other one… I thought it was an outright try.

“We’re frustrated with that because in these big games, you need to score those tries when you’ve created them.

“You can’t change it, so I try to keep my emotions steady with it all, but it is a frustration.

“It is the way it is at the moment, so there’s not much we can do about it. It’s something we may need to talk about as coaches at the end of the season, but certainly not at this point.

“As long as they get the decision right, you (don’t mind as much), but especially the one today where it’s (ruled out for) an inside shoulder lead, I don’t understand that.

“It’s gone up as a try, and I think there’s an issue with that one, but it is what it is at the moment.

“I thought he was going to award it until the last second when he got talked into going to the video ref. Had he awarded that, no one would have complained about it.

“Every rugby league player and coach knows what just happened… it’s how it was manipulated to look slightly differently. Had he awarded it, I don’t think anyone would have been too concerned about it.”