“Accidental” – Leeds Rhinos boss has his say on controversial ban

Leeds Rhinos front-rower Justin Sangare has been given a one-match penalty notice, meaning he will miss their game against Warrington Wolves on Friday night.

Despite the referee and video referee seeing nothing wrong with it at the time, the Match Review Panel gave him a Grade C Head Contact charge for head-on-head contact with Joe Westerman in their 26-6 victory over Castleford Tigers.

After the incident, Westerman looked visibly affected, and waited a moment before playing the ball – this gave the officiating team some time to review the play, but nothing was given.

The club have accepted the decision, and will not be appealing, although they have confirmed that they’re appealing Cameron Smith one-match penalty notice for Dangerous Contact in the same game.

Leeds head coach Rohan Smith explained why the club wouldn’t be appealing Sangare’s charge: “I thought the Justin Sangare one was accidental but it follows the framework that was released in pre-season to a tee.”

Leeds Rhinos boss considering replacements

Leeds Rhinos are also appealing the suspension of Cameron Smith tonight but if that appeal is unsuccessful Leeds will lose three of their forwards who featured against Castleford Tigers with James Bentley ruled out with a Head Injury.

Asked about potential replacements, Smith said: “Yeah, we’ve got Tom Holroyd and James Donaldson that didn’t play last week that are available. So we feel like we’re in a decent position there. We’ve also chosen some games to run with an extra back on the bench to cover potential injury in-game. So we’re fully confident whoever we have out there on the field will be in a good place to put in a good performance.”

Leeds have two young forwards out on loan in Leon Ruan and Tom Nicholson-Watton. On the prospect of bringing either back, Smith said: “Leon won’t be able to but Tom has stalled for a two week period but we don’t have any plans to bring him back at this point.”

Leeds take on Warrington Wolves this weekend who have also lost their fair share of forwards. Paul Vaughan has been suspended and Zane Musgrove and Joe Philbin have both been ruled out with head injuries.