Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur and Warrington Wolves head coach Sam Burgess both questioned the standard of refereeing following their clash in the 5,000th game of Super League.
Warrington fought back with two tries in the final quarter to wrap up a 16-14 victory that rocketed them up to third in the Super League table, with the Rhinos staying in sixth.
The match-winning try from Jake Thewlis came just moments after Keenan Palasia was sent to the sin bin for a high shot on Lachlan Fitzgibbon which was one of two incidents Artthur questioned.
Leeds were awarded a scrum with 10 seconds remaining on the clock but referee Tom Grant adjudicated that Leeds had not packed down in time with six players in. However, the rule states that when down to 12 players, only five players have to pack into the scrum.
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Highlights of the Super League match between Warrington Wolves and Leeds Rhinos
That led Arthur to conclude that he needs to “whinge” more about referees and that in such big moments, they need to be much clearer on knowing the letter of the law.
“I’ve seen plenty of those already five rounds in [tackles unpunished like Palasia’s], so maybe as a coach I’ll need to complain more and whinge about the referee,” Arthur told Sky Sports.
“We’ve worked really hard on our discipline and we can’t be the least penalised team in the competition throughout the first four or five games and then we come here tonight and get seven penalties in the second half.”
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Palasia sees yellow for a high tackle on Lachlan Fitzgibbon
“We packed five in the scrum already. Our players got told that we only had five in the scrum, that’s why it couldn’t pack,” he added.
“We still had 10 seconds. The likelihood of winning from there is remote but it doesn’t matter, there’s still 10 seconds left.
“You can’t just blow time out.They need to know the rules. There’s only 12 players, five in the scrum. We had five in the scrum.”
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Josh Thewlis goes over in the corner as Warrington take advantage of Palasia’s yellow card
Burgess agreed with Arthur on the scrum incident but had some issues of his own, speaking to Grant at half-time about two passes he believed were forward that led to tries.
“I just asked about a couple of forward passes that I thought were pretty obvious at really important times,” Burgess said. “I just wanted to know if he thought they were forward at all.
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James McDonnell and Leeds respond to Warrington taking the lead with a well-worked try
“I know he’s got a tough job but they’re really big calls and he’s got two touch judges as well. I feel like I have to ask that question, I asked a lot privately last week, obstruction calls, Zane Musgrove push, some really big calls. So I just asked if he saw those or if I’m seeing different things.
“It was done in a good manner, I just wanted to know if I’m off the mark or if he felt they were at least borderline. He said he called them as he saw them, which is fair enough. “
Super League Round Six Fixtures (all live on Sky Sports)
Saturday March 29
- 5.30pm: Catalans Dragons vs St Helens
Sunday March 30
- 3pm: Huddersfield Giants vs Hull Kingston Rovers
- 3pm: Wigan Warriors vs Salford Red Devils
Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+ via the red button.
