John Asiata more likely to get injured from tackle technique than opponents claims pundit

When Wigan Warriors and St Helens were beaten by Leigh Leopards and Hull KR in the Challenge Cup semi-finals there was more than just a little bit of controversy.

In Leigh’s win, the controversy centred solely around John Asiata as he injured four St Helens players with the same tackle technique.

Morgan Knowles picked up a knock, Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook was out for a month, Alex Walmsley’s season was ended as was Agnatius Paasi as his knee was “blown to smithereens” with his MCL, ACL and ankle ligaments all damaged by the tackle.

Thus, when Asiata made a similar tackle against Hull KR at Wembley, Elliot Minchella toom exception to it in a controversial moment.

However, BBC pundit Johnathon Davies branded it a proper tackle and said the more likely person to get injured was Asiata.

“There’s been an awful lot of comments and questions about the high tackles in recent years, but that’s a proper tackle,” he said.

“There is one thing that he does get wrong; he gets his head in the wrong position. He’s going to injure himself more than he injures the ball carrier there.

“For me, there’s nothing wrong with that tackle. It’s a low tackle and a fuss over nothing.”

It was a great game as Hull KR struck first. Elliot Minchella gave away that penalty but immediately made amends as he broke through and found Jez Litten in support to score.

A Tom Briscoe error nearly led to a Tom Opacic try as the ball was kicked ahead. Opacic was then tripped up by Lachlan Lam who went for the ball but it was deemed an accident and no penalty try was given.

Leigh then said anything you can do we can do better as Kai O’Donnell broke through in similar fashion finding Lachlan Lam in support to score.

Minchella’s strange day kept going as he was penalised for a hit on Ben Reynolds and the Leopards took a 10-6 lead as Hull KR went down to 12 men.

Hull KR then nailed a penalty of their own on the stroke of halftime to make it 10-8.

The second half started as the first one ended with a Hull KR penalty as Hull KR drew level at 10-all.

It was then a very tense second half as neither side gave each other an inch. Try scoring sensation Josh Charnley had a chance when he got the ball wide but was held up.

Tom Briscoe scores tries at Wembley like it’s his backyard. Today was his eighth Challenge Cup Final try in his fifth final appearance and his eighth in the last four. He struck a decisive blow in the corner for the Leopards after a sweeping move.

But that try was cancelled out when Parcell touched down to score in the 79th minute after a kick bounced off Zak Hardaker.

However, in the end it was Leigh who will lift the Challenge Cup after a golden point drop goal from Lachlan Lam won the game for the club.