Jukes and Kilshaw angered by referees

Photo credit: Rochdale 13

Leigh Centurions boss Neil Jukes and Rochdale Hornets coach Alan Kilshaw were left fuming with the match officials after their side’s respective losses at the weekend.

Leigh were condemned to defeat against Hull Kingston Rovers by a late Shaun Lunt try, which looked dubious due to a sloppy play-the-ball by Nick Scruton.

After the match, Jukes tried to hold back his criticism in fear of a fine by the RFL but the anger was clear as his side were thrown into relegation danger with their first loss of the Qualifiers.

“I will have to watch my mouth,” he told the press.

“In a game of that magnitude you cannot get those things wrong.”

Meanwhile, Rochdale went down to ten men at one point in their match against Batley Bulldogs.

The Hornets were beaten 34-14 but the main talking point was the cards handed out in the final quarter.

Referee Tom Grant gave two yellow cards and two red cards in the final quarter. The Hornets’ Gary Middlehurst and Batley’s Jason Crookes were dismissed while Rochdale duo Ben Moores and Jordan Case were sent to the sin-bin.

Kilshaw was raging after the game in an interview with Rochdale 13.

“I thought it was absolutely comical,” he said.

“And we get a bad rep that we’re a bad team and referees come here with that in mind.

“We’ve had a team (Batley) that was giving penalties away and been given a team warning, he could have penalised them three times in the next set. We didn’t get a penalty for 20 minutes, ten minutes either side of half-time. So you’re telling me that around the ruck Batley were clean for 20 minutes? Not a chance.

“It’s the supporters and the people who pay good money that I feel sorry for because that has been absolutely ruined today by them three blokes. Absolutely ruined.”