Ian Watson disagrees with RFL decision over abandoned match

Wigan Warriors may have gone top on Friday but the story was down the road at Leigh Leopards as they took on Huddersfield Giants.

After 48 minutes the game was plunged into darkness due to a floodlight failure.

After 55 minutes of trying to fix the issue, the game was abandoned before the RFL chose to have the final 32 minutes played on Sunday.

This is a decision Huddersfield Giants disagree with as does Ian Watson who said after the game:

“Well that’s what we’ve just been discussing in there so there’s a few suggestions thrown around so they’re going to go to the RFL and the RFL are going to have a meeting tomorrow morning to when to play the game again really.

“I think the game is massively important for both teams. Obviously both teams want to win. Leigh are kind of on that cusp of 28 points. We’re on that where if we get four wins we can get 28 points as well.

“It’s a big call now for the RFL so which way they go, whether they start the game at that point there or whether they restart, we obviously petitioned for it to be restarted but I don’t know if I’m talking sense there or not.

“I think there will be a few things that are thrown up now but it’s going to add to the workload obviously of both clubs because you’re going to end up having a short turnaround at some point, again even shorter than probably what we’ve had in the last few weeks.”

He was asked if starting in the 48th minute was an option:

“I’ve not known it as well but it was just kind of one of the things that was just kind of thrown around in there before and like I say the RFL have got the power to make the decision on the back end of that.

“So whether they go with that, whether they restart the full game I can’t guess which way but yeah let’s see what the RFL do they’ve got to do their job now. It’s nobody’s fault, it’s just something that’s happened and it’s been out of everybody’s control, so let’s just see what the RFL come up with now. ”

In terms of replaying the fixture, he said:

“I don’t think so. I don’t know. They’re the things that the RFL are going to look at now of whether it might be played pretty quickly or whether it might be after the next game, to be fair.

“Both clubs are adamant that they want to play. Both understand that it’s just out of their control and it’s one of them things. You can say it’s at Leigh and it’s their game, but you can’t control stuff like that mate, it just is what it is. “