Let the disciplinary decide Flower’s fate, says Smith

Hull KR head coach Tony Smith said he will leave the fate of Ben Flower in the hands of the disciplinary panel.

The Wigan prop has come under scrutiny after his ‘third man in’ tackle on the standing leg of Matthew Storton yesterday, resulting in the Rovers forward limping from the field.

“With young Storton, we have got another ankle issue there and that one needs to be looked at,” said Smith.

“It’s not my job to judge on that but I’m sure the people that do judge on that will look at it.

🗣️Tony Smith said "I'm sure the people in charge will check out that tackle" from Ben Flower that injured Matthew Storton in today's Wigan/Hull KR match. Watch the incident here👇🏽 Do you agree❓ pic.twitter.com/40m9VIkYow

— Sky Sports Rugby League (@SkySportsRL) March 8, 2020

“From my perspective, I’ve just got to make sure the kid is alright and make sure he is getting the best care because he is a good kid and it will be a shame to lose him.

“But yeah, I’m sure the people in charge will check out that tackle.”

From the game itself, Smith was proud of his side who had threatened to pull off a major upset when they got within two points of table-topping Wigan early in the second-half.

Two quick-fire tries on the hour put the game out of reach, but the Robins boss was in an upbeat mood despite suffering a fifth consecutive defeat.

“I’m very proud of the effort and of the improvement in our defence,” he said. “I can’t question my players’ effort any week because they have been putting their bodies on the line.

“It’s just those methods were better defensively today and we bent our back a bit more.

“I thought we held our own for quite a lot of that game. We don’t quite have as bigger names or salary packets of some of those guys we were tackling, but we were tackling them.

“We should get a bit of confidence out of holding a team that’s top of the table and playing some pretty good rugby league.

“They are a very dangerous team and I actually have the feeling we could of got a bit more out of that if we had been a little better attacking wise.

“I don’t think we asked enough questions of our opponents on their try line and had we done we could have got one of those upsets where the pundits get the call wrong.”