Campese defends Boudebza

Hull KR skipper Terry Campese says there was no malice in John Boudebza’s tackle on Michael Shenton and his four-game ban is harsh.

Boudebza has been suspended for a month for the hit that injured Shenton.

Writing in the Yorkshire Post, Campese said it is a frustrating situation for the Robins.

“Four matches for that tackle is really harsh,” he said.

“There was definitely no malice in it and we’ve never trained to do something like that intentionally. I’ve been playing for 12 years and I’ve seen a million times worse go unpunished.

“There were actually worse tackles in our game but since nobody was injured in those nobody was suspended. I’ve done three ACL recons now and only one of them was caused in contact.

“If that player was to be suspended just for being involved in the tackle, I wouldn’t feel right about it myself. It’s something the RFL needs to look at and fix up because I feel sorry for John as well as Michael Shenton.

“You never want to see a player leave the footy field injured but especially in round one. It’s frustrating but we need to dust ourselves off and get ready for the challenge of facing Warrington this weekend because we’re light on troops ourselves now and the Wolves have got a great team there.”