Leeds Rhinos put in a brilliant performance against St Helens on Friday night and were unlucky to lose to the Saints.
Many Leeds Rhinos fans will claim that the defeat can be traced back to a controversial decision to deem Luis Roberts knocked on after 55 minutes instead of awarding Leeds a penalty for a strip.
It was a big call and a tough for Jack Smith with Rohan Smith even admitting himself that these kind of decisions are 50-50 for officials at best.
Nonetheless, St Helens legend Jon Wilkin felt the penalty should have been given to Leeds Rhinos.
Wilkin said on Sky Sports: “It’s a mistake here from Luis Roberts and the St Helens players celebrate it like a score. It looks like George Delaney reaches forward and Moses Mbye has a hand on the ball.
“We have seen Andy Ackers effect a tackle on Bell and dislodge the ball but there are multiple St Helens defenders in there and there’s hands all over it. It’s not picked up. It’s Moses Mbye.”
Leeds Rhinos error kills off Rhinos hopes
Credit: Imago Images
However, after Leeds conceded to a Jon Bennison try, they shot themselves in the foot with Lachie Miller kicking the kick-off out on the full.
Wilkin also had his say on this incident: “After valiantly defending and playing exceptionally well and this man has been awesome for Leeds Rhinos all night, he has the adrenaline pumping and he thumps that a metre over the dead ball line. It’s a big error. After conceding the try and compounding that with a poor kick-off.”
Rohan Smith also had his say on the mistake from his star fullback: “It’s the risk you take sometimes with standing the ball up and looking to to create something with the kickoff there was a delay in him being able to take that kickoff as well which disrupted you know his rhythm perhaps but um yeah he’ll he’ll put the practice in and rectify that.”
This was a crucial moment as it gave St Helens possession again and Leeds subsequently conceded a soft try as Moses Mbye dived over from acting half.
