Wigan Warriors saw their winning run of 15 games – which included a Grand Final win and a World Club Challenge triumph against the best of Europe and the best of Australia – ended at the hands of their closest rivals.
St Helens defeated Wigan Warriors 12-4 in the traditional Good Friday derby between the two favourites for Grand Final glory.
The game turned on a 62nd minute red card for Liam Byrne. Speaking on Sky Sports, Jon Wilkin felt that it could have been a yellow card for the incident rather than a red.
He said: “Look at this camera angle. It’s just unbelievable. For people who want to get into the intensity of the game, I’ve not seen a camera shot show how ferocious carrying the ball into contact, and into a man like Liam Byrne, what that feels like.
“Well, Mark Percival’s on the right end of that. For me, when you played that next to Tyler Dupree’s yellow, you felt like a yellow card was going to come. I was surprised that was a red. That was the right decision. I think in the context of what’s going on in the game here, you have to say it is a red card.”
Wigan Warriors Head Coach has his say on red card
Credit Imago Images
Wigan Warriors Head Coach Matty Peet however saw the fairness in the decision as he said when asked by Jenna Brooks on Sky Sports.
Always gracious in defeat, Peet said on Sky: “Yeah, I think with those kind of tackles you know the officials are going to have a second look. The referees are under a lot of pressure and I thought I could see it being either a yellow or a red card.”
Certainly a very commendable verdict from Peet who is one of the best characters in the game.
He didn’t believe it impacted the game too much however: “I don’t think it impacted the game too much. I think it was two good teams going at it, I don’t think it had a massive impact on it. Obviously, it put us under a bit more pressure but I thought they were still worthy winners in the end.”
