Saints lost 16-14 in the final game of Magic Weekend<\/a>, and had the chance to level the game in the final play, but a failed penalty goal from Jackson Hastings gave Wigan the two points.<\/p>\nThe contest was everything a Wigan-Saints derby should be, with both sides going all out in order to win, not just the two points, but bragging rights as well.<\/p>\n
As such, the game was high on ferocity, with there being plenty of incidents for the Match Review Panel to consider as a result.<\/p>\n
One of those incidents will be the high shot on Saints hooker Daryl Clark by Wigan\u2019s Lukas Mason.<\/p>\n
The moment took place close to the Wigan line, and was put on report by on-field official Chris Kendall. However, there was no penalty awarded for Saints, and instead it was play on in the tackle count.<\/p>\n
A penalty there would have given Saints the chance to extend their lead to four points, but instead they went down by four, with Wigan scoring on the very next set.<\/p>\n
Whilst the Red Vee should have been much better defensively, you have to feel that Rowley has a point.<\/p>\n
The Saints boss was asked whether losing a game like that is more difficult than losing by a huge margin, to which he replied: \u201cNot really,\u00a0because sometimes it\u2019s about the performance\u00a0and the intent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we were there.\u00a0If we look at a lot of the markers,\u00a0we were there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey owned a couple of moments. We won four captain\u2019s challenges,\u00a0which you\u2019ve got to ask a question there.\u00a0There\u2019s something been put on report\u00a0where we\u2019d have taken the two.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a six-point swing\u00a0because they\u2019ve gone down the other end\u00a0and scored.\u00a0So I\u2019m really disappointed about that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019ve got a big screen,\u00a0why do you put things on report?\u00a0But I don\u2019t want that to take away\u00a0from both teams\u2019 performances. It was a good game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commenting on the officiating further, Rowley added: \u201cThe on report these days is a bit of a joke\u00a0because you\u2019ve got a big screen,\u00a0you\u2019ve got video review.\u00a0So that is a report in itself. It\u2019s a strange thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly a contact to the head of Daryl Clark. That\u2019s two points.\u00a0But yeah, we should be defending it as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll look at things we did good\u00a0and things we did bad.\u00a0But overall,\u00a0disappointed with the result,\u00a0but really proud of the players\u2019 efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul Rowley clarifies substitution confusion after St Helens end game with 12 men<\/p>\n
Due to the amount of injuries picked up by Saints in that game, a rare rule had to be enforced, and it couldn\u2019t have come at a more crucial time for the Red Vee.<\/p>\n
With the side having no fit substitutes due to four failed HIA\u2019s, it meant that one player needed to leave the field in order to be there as a replacement option.<\/p>\n
Young hooker Tom Humpreys was the unlucky player to be culled, and Rowley has tried to explain what went on in a chaotic final few minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an unexpected one,\u201d he said.\u00a0It was one that [Alex Walmsley] got earlier in the game.\u00a0There were a lot of head injuries in the game,\u00a0so sometimes it was hard to keep count\u00a0of who\u2019s passing, who\u2019s not passing. But yeah, it caught us out with two minutes to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the game as a whole, the boss said: \u201cIt was [brutal]. Putting on Wigan-Saints last proved to be the right thing, because I think we finished the show in good style. I thought both teams,\u00a0credit to both teams.\u00a0They battled hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a violent encounter,\u00a0and one that I\u2019m sure everyone enjoyed.\u00a0But unfortunately for us,\u00a0we didn\u2019t get the result we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following their agonising defeat to Wigan Warriors, St Helens boss Paul Rowley has labelled the \u2018on report\u2019 rule…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-675883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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