Jenna Brooks was forced to deal with something she has never seen in her career when Aidan Sezer’s comments were drowned out by the sounds of St Helens fans booing as they had come to the touchline in front of the interview.
She said on Sky Sports: “I can tell you that I am witnessing something I have never witnessed in my career, there are a number of St Helens fans who have actually come down to the touchline, they are booing this player of the match and Aidan Sezer is dealing with it very well.”
Then Sezer joked: “They’re giving it to me.”
Sezer did remain composed enough to assess the character in his side’s performance:
“We showed desperation, we have been below par the last few weeks and we showed what we can do tonight against the World Champions and we showed are character coming back from 24-12 down and to come back and win.”
Things didn’t end there as the Saints fans were then spotted by Brian Carney of Sky who described Rohan Smith dealing with the angry fans:
“Rohan Smith standing near by and dealing with some very angry, gesticulating St Helens fans. What problem they have with Rohan Smith I don’t know.
“The coolest man in the Totally Wicked Stadium.”
Carney would later ask “angry at what? The defeat, the performance, some decisions?”
"The 2023 season has officially started for Leeds Rhinos!" đź‘Ź
A REMARKABLE finish as Leeds Rhinos stun St Helens with a 25-24 win! pic.twitter.com/TJU8fr73HU
— Sky Sports Rugby League (@SkySportsRL) March 3, 2023
The incident that Saints fans were irritated about saw the Rhinos put together a nice set play with a smart Richie Myler grubbering at the end of it forcing a goal line drop out.
But after Mata’utia and Sezer were left on the ground with Mata’utia needing tap around a cut on his head.
Mata’utia was sin binned because of the flexion of Sezer’s head after the collision.
Phil Clarke on Sky Sports said Mata’utia is lucky that it wasn’t a red card: “It was over aggressive and ill-disciplined. He missed 10 minutes, I think he will miss more in the coming weeks when the disciplinary panel consider the foul play there.
“He was late in the tackle and the game is trying to eradicate this aspect from the game as a player passes the ball, unsighted, hit from behind, he could have been very seriously injured.
“Luckily Aidan Sezer is okay and has returned to the field.
“That is dangerous play and he is very lucky that card is yellow.”