Leeds Rhinos fell to a 22-12 defeat against Hull KR last night and the Rhinos’ coach Rohan Smith has now brought into question the penalty count.
It was another night of ill-discipline all around with three sin bins, one for the hosts and two for the Rhinos, but the penalty count reflected a story of just one side being undisciplined.
That was Leeds Rhinos with their eleven penalties dwarfing the three that Hull KR were judged to have committed by referee Jack Smith.
Speaking to Serious About Rugby League, Rohan Smith has now called into question why KR weren’t punished as severely as his own side.
“I’ve got a lot of thoughts on it,” was Smith’s response when asked about the huge discrepancy in penalties.
He continued: “I think we’re a disciplined team that quite correctly got penalised on the majority of those. Watching live, most of the penalty calls I thought were correct, but there was tonnes of times where I thought, well, ‘where’s the one coming back the other way?’
“As I said it’s early in the season, everyone will get better, hopefully.”
Leeds Rhinos boss calls into question crucial decisions
It wasn’t just Hull KR going unpenalised that was a sticking point for Smith as he also felt his team were potentially hard done by on the Robins’ second try, scored whilst James Donaldson remained in the sin bin.
Having praised the quality for Peta Hiku’s try, Smith said: “The other two tries are on another day. I thought the last slap forward or tip from Gildart was clearly forward on the replay. I’m not sure where the touch judge was on that one.”
Hall’s try did go to the video referee with Ben Thaler judging that Gildart’s slap went backwards on its way to Ryan Hall, but it wasn’t just that try that the Leeds Rhinos boss had issues with.
Addressing the use of yellow cards once again, both of which the Rhinos received for contact with the head which Smith had asserted was a cause he believed in, he did reference the duty of care for everyone else.
“We’re talking about duty of care, and then we’re asking 12 men to do the job of 13, and then opening up the spaces more, which also makes it harder to defend,” Smith argued before then going in once again on Hull KR captain Elliot Minchella for what he deemed play-acting.
Smith stated: “I think it’s the way the game’s going. I’m not sure about the second one. I think we’re almost encouraging everyone to make more of it.
“Everyone’s throwing their arms up in the air, the crowd are all throwing their arms up in the air. It’s like we’re focused on ‘can we win a penalty and get someone sin binned?'”
That echoed the thoughts he had on Sky Sports where he told Jenna Brooks a similar story about players diving to cause sin bins, something Jon Wilkin had accused Catalans Dragons’ Romain Navarrete of doing last week.
