Jon Wilkin shocked as he says St Helens should have had a vital penalty

Jon Wilkin was not impressed by a crucial decision at the end of today’s derby between Wigan Warriors and St Helens.

After Jack Welsby broke from a Tommy Makinson offload, Bevan French clawed Welsby down and a tackle later Lewis Dodd was dragged down to stop Saints’ last chance at completing a comeback.

However, it looked like French had a second go at Welsby, and Terry O’Connor said:

“It could have been a set restart for the second effort on Jack Welsby, it was a brilliant offload and Bevan French comes up with a brilliant tackle but he has a second go at him there. Could have been a penalty.”

Jon Wilkin simply said:

“Should have been a penalty. Should have been a penalty.

Stuart Pyke’s statement after this was:

“Should have been a penalty maybe, 50/50 calls.”

Wilkin hit back with the comment:

“It is not a 50/50. It should have been a penalty. He has picked him up and dropped him on his back again. It should have been a penalty.”

This came after Wilkin said the Warriors had been pushing the letter of the law:

“Take note of how slow every single ruck was there.

“Wigan are happy just to push the letter of the law right to the end and slow rucks down.

“They would rather concede a penalty, like any team in Super League would, they would rather concede a penalty than give a quick ruck away.”