Adrian Lam claims Liam Moore sin binned John Asiata “to prove a point”

Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam has taken another swipe at Liam Moore’s decision to sin bin John Asiata against St Helens.

The Leigh boss suggested that Liam Moore elected to sin bin him to prove a point given Asiata’s history with the tackle technique.

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Lam said: “I thought his first point of contact was perfectly fine and sliding down, he probably didn’t finish at the best angle but that’s the sport, you make mistakes with that.

“You know progression from last year with that rule should be penalty sufficient where it wasn’t last year. You know, you don’t have to sin bin the player to make a point.

“It’s rugby league, let’s play 13 v 13, let’s keep the players on the field. Stop taking them off the field. It’s too hard, it’s too hard to play with less than 13.”

Sam Tomkins says John Asiata was sin binned on reputation

This was an argument Sam Tomkins also seemed to suggest on Sky Sports as well as he spoke about the decision to dismiss the Leigh skipper.

He firstly said that he felt Asiata would avoid a ban, though it matters little after he tore his calf during the game.

Tomkins said: “Yeah, I think he’s safe [from a ban.] I don’t think there’ll be much to come from it. The fact that it’s him and the tackle looks so similar to what he’d done last year, but there is some difference in it.”

He then suggested that Asiata was the only player in that scenario who would be sin binned: “If it was another player, would it have been a sin binned? The referees know exactly why the rule got brought in because of that man and that man alone. You know in the offseason the referees brought these new rules, everyone got shown examples of them, the only example of that tackle was Asiata.”

Asiata wasn’t the only player who left the field with a torn calf somewhat remarkably. Teammate Tom Briscoe suffered the exact same injury during the game.

They both join Edwin Ipape on the sidelines and Gareth O’Brien was also taken off for a head injury assessment.