Huddersfield Giants boss provides Taane Milne gouging case clarity amid double injury setback

Huddersfield Giants boss Luke Robinson has revealed that the gouging allegation against Taane Milne has been dropped.

Milne was accused of gouging by Jordy Crowther on Saturday when the Giants took on Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. The incident happened just before half-time with the referee placing it on report for the Match Review Panel to review.

The panel never sanctioned the Fiji international with the incident being referred for further investigation with Warrington and Crowther being invited to submit a formal complaint or evidence to support the allegation.

However, according to Robinson, the matter has come to an end with Crowther dropping his complaint.

“The Rugby League looked at it but I don’t think there was any evidence and Crowther withdrew the complaint so it’s null and void,” Robinson said in his press conference. “No case to answer.

“It was one of those where Taane said he didn’t do it and there didn’t seem much video evidence going either way.

“It’s nice to know you’ve got one of your players available on the field but we kind of guessed what the outcome was going to be well in advance.”

Huddersfield Giants injury news

Milne will be involved this Saturday when Huddersfield take on Catalans Dragons in Perpignan then and he’ll be looking to build on what was a strong performance against the Wolves.

Oliver Wilson won’t be involved again though with Robinson explaining that he has a pubis bone injury. Sam Hewitt will also miss out after failing a HIA in Cheshire.

“Olly didn’t play last week,” Robinson said when asked for his team news. “We gave him until the last moments. He’s been carrying a pubis issue which can be really severe or really mild, you don’t know the severity but he’s been carrying it for a little while.

“It was just a case of before it became an issue, he’s had a steroid injection in it. He will miss Catalans definitely but we are hopeful that it should settle down and be available for Castleford.

“Sam Hewitt was just a head knock. Literally about two minutes into the game someone caught him with a knee and it’s protocol that he’s not available this week.”