Wakefield coach addresses controversial Jazz Tevaga sin-bin as Liam Marshall claim made

Wakefield boss Daryl Powell had no qualms over Jazz Tevaga’s sin-bin in their Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat to Wigan, but insisted Warriors star Liam Marshall played his part in the incident.

Sunday afternoon saw Trinity beaten 26-22 by the Warriors in the last-eight of the cup at Belle Vue having led 12-0 early on.

Towards the end of the first half, off-season recruit Tevaga saw yellow from referee Liam Moore after kicking out at experienced Wigan winger Marshall, who had laid on in the tackle.

Most watching on expected a red card to be brandished, and though that wasn’t the case, the time Tevaga spent off the field proved costly as Wakefield conceded two tries.

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Wakefield coach addresses controversial Jazz Tevaga sin-bin as Liam Marshall claim made

Wigan boss Matt Peet didn’t wish to comment on the incident in his post-match press conference, but Trinity head coach Powell did address it.

He said: “I thought Liam Marshall knew what he was doing, to be honest. I think he sits out on Jazz’s leg, but Jazz can’t respond like that, so I don’t have any problem with the sin-binning.

“I just thought that was pretty cute from Liam and it’s also very difficult to referee, I don’t think we want to be doing those sorts of things that are going to get you sin-binned. There’s a key lesson there.

“I’m not going to blame Jazz for the loss, I think that’s important. He’d be disappointed with that, and I know he is because I’ve spoken to him. It’s a lesson for Jazz and for all of us, really.”

What turned out to be the winning try for Wigan came with 17 minutes left on the clock through Zach Eckersley, who dotted down in the corner.

That came on the back of a set which included young Trinity hooker Harvey Smith clashing with Warriors centre Adam Keighran, though play wasn’t stopped on that occasion.

Powell detailed: “Harvey was talking about getting smacked on the nose, but he’s just got to get on with the game.

“At that point, I’m not sure the referee had that much control. There were some periods where he lost a bit of control in the game, but it was a tough game to referee because there was a lot going on.

“There’s a game going on, they’ve offloaded the ball and we’ve just got to focus on what we’ve got to deal with rather than individual disagreements.

“They score on the back of that, and that hurts us. There’s a fair few lessons from this game, and that’s another one.”