St Helens coach ‘troubled’ by refereeing calls in narrow Wigan defeat at Magic

St Helens boss Paul Rowley admitted he was left ‘troubled’ by some of referee Chris Kendall’s decisions during their 16-14 defeat to rivals Wigan Warriors at Magic Weekend.

Sunday evening brought the first clash between Wigan and Saints since Warriors head coach Matt Peet’s comments around their rivals’ ‘identity’ following May’s Challenge Cup semi-final.

A feisty encounter at the Hill Dickinson Stadium ensued, which brought three sin-bins: two for Saints’ Jack Welsby as well as one for Wigan hooker Brad O’Neill.

And on the scoreboard, Rowley’s side had led 8-6 at the break, but ended up being pipped in an absolute thriller, with stand-in skipper Jackson Hastings missing a penalty which would have taken the game to Golden Point extra time.

St Helens coach Paul Rowley ‘troubled’ by refereeing calls in narrow Wigan Warriors defeat at Magic Weekend

Saints remain in sixth spot on the Super League ladder, but seventh-placed Leigh Leopards have closed the gap to just two competition points now following their big victory over Warrington Wolves at Magic Weekend on Saturday evening.

Speaking post-match on Merseyside, boss Rowley said: “We won four Captain’s Challenges, which is quite unique, I would suspect.

“That means four things got missed in that respect, but we challenged and got them, so that’s great. That’s what Captain’s Challenge is for.

“The ‘on report’ (call) troubled me a bit more because there’s a review, there’s two jumbo screens at this ground… and there’s contact with the head.

“It’s two points (from a penalty) all day long. As a result, Wigan go up the other end and score six points.

“We should be good enough to defend it, but I think the ‘on report’ (call) is not the right way of going.

“It prevents the use of a green card, if a green card is valid then one should be shown.

“And it prevents the penalty.”

‘I thought the second sin-bin was ridiculous for Jack’

Utility back Welsby’s first sin-bin on Sunday came in the first half and came as he threw the ball into the crowd having sent a grubber kick over the dead ball line to hand Wigan a seven-tackle set, intentionally delaying the restart of the game.

His second came in the second half as referee Kendall showed him yellow at the same time as Cherry and Whites hooker Brad O’Neill for their part in a fracas.

Rowley was not happy with the latter, saying: “I thought the second sin-bin was ridiculous for Jack, I’m not sure what he’s done there.

“We’re disappointed with the first one and Jack will be disappointed with it, too, but (not) the second one.”