Lam slams controversial refereeing decision in Wigan’s defeat

Wigan battled hard, but went down 21-8 to Warrington last night.

However, Wigan boss Adrian Lam was disappointed with one refereeing incident in particular.

Warrington were leading 14-8 when Wigan winger Liam Marshall chased back to collect a loose ball, only for Marshall to be knocked out by Josh Charnley.

Charnley had kicked Marshall by mistake, which meant the latter was concussed and thus subsequently drop the ball.

Referee Robert Hicks didn’t go to the video referee, however, and Jake Mamo’s try was awarded.

“In my opinion the player was kicked in the head,” Lam said.

“Whether it was accidental or not – obviously it was accidental – defeats the purpose, it was a penalty.

“I just don’t know why the referee didn’t go to the video referee to adjudicate that when the player was clearly knocked out from some sort of action.”

Lam was keen to reiterate the rules in his post-match conference.

“There are two parts to it – one is that he may have knocked on and touched the ball to end the play there and then and that’s at the referee’s discretion, but by the law of the game, that could potentially be stopped there and then.

“He could have still awarded the try after looking back over the footage, that’s what it’s there for.

“Where we are with welfare and injuries, I thought it was disgraceful we didn’t pull that up.

“Fair enough that it plays on and goes to the end, that’s not the part I’m disappointed at, it’s the fact that at any stage, it was clear he was knocked out.