St Helens ran up a huge score against Castleford Tigers last night with the Red Vee winning 60-4 despite the fact that winger Tommy Makinson was sent off after ledd than 15 minutes.
Whilst at a man disadvantage, St Helens kept the game close enough so that they could then capitalise and punish Castleford when they too saw a man sent off early in the second half.
In fact, Saints extended their lead to 14-6 whilst at a man disadvantage but after Liam Horne’s red card in the 52nd minute, the Red Vee ran riot. They scored a whopping 46 points in the final 28 minutes, but should they have ever gone down to 12 players themselves?
Paul Wellens questions red card for St Helens star
Credit: SWpix
Tommy Makinson had made his return from injury for the clash at The Jungle but he was headed for an early bath after being shown a red card by Jack Smith in the 12th minute.
Makinson was sent off for making contact with the head, however, head coach Paul Wellens has queried the decision to show red instead of yellow.
Speaking to the press post-match, he said: “I understand the way the game is going so I think we have to accept that there’s been significant changes made.
“But I think even watching it when they’re replaying it and replaying it and replaying it again and the fact that you have to watch it that many times tells me that it’s inconclusive.”
Wellens would go on to accept that there was contact to the head but questioned if it was “direct”, instead suggesting that a yellow card would have been a more appropriate course of action.
He noted: “There’s obviously contact with it (the head) but is that direct contact to the head? I don’t think we can say for sure that that’s the case.
“I think the most sensible decision would have been a yellow card and I can sit here accepting that. That’s obviously the decision that was made and what I’m more pleased about is the response of our group to that sending-off.”
Makinson could become the second winger in a week to escape a ban after being sent off after the Match Review Panel saw no need for action against Elliot Wallis following his ‘headbutt’ red card.
For Wellens though, he was more concerned and focused upon his team’s response to the red card with St Helens remaining in the game, if not slightly on top, whilst at a man disadvantage, before then running riot when it became twelve versus twelve in the 52nd minute.
On that note, Wellens said: “We understand now in the game that things like that can happen and the resilience they’ve shown throughout that period when we were down a man was probably the reason why we ended up scoring the amount of points that we did at the back end of the game.”
