Phil Clarke suggests “contact with the head” was missed by officials

As the likes of Warrington Wolves, Catalans Dragons, Leeds Rhinos, Leigh Leopards and the rest of Super League met in games in the Super League season, there were plenty of contentious issues that will no doubt be looked at by the Match Review Panel today.

As with every Monday, there will be a big focus on the disciplinary today and there will be an interesting assessment of one moment from Catalans Dragons’ win over Warrington on Friday night.

We have seen how heavily punished contact with the head has been this year and as Matt Dufty made a great covering tackle on Tom Davies there was a suspicion of contact with the head in the eyes of Phil Clarke.

He said on Sky Sports: “There might have been contact with the head there. It’s been looked at by Ben Thaler the video referee and he hasn’t seen anything wrong with it but it might also be looked at by Paul Cullen and the disciplinary panel.”

There will also be an interesting look at Ben Garcia’s tackle.

Garcia could have been sin binned for lifting Matty Nicholson into a dangerous position.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Terry O’Connor suggested that Garcia should have been sent off in some capacity be it a yellow or red card as he said he was very lucky.

In fact he suggested that if Nicholson had milked the tackle then things could have been different.

He said:

“I think Ben Garcia is a very very lucky guy there. I think if Matty Nicholson stays down on the ground for 30 or 40 more seconds I think we maybe see a card there.”

Also on Sky, the reasons behind Garcia dodging a card were explained by referee Liam Moore whose comments were picked up on Sky.

Moore said to the Catalans captain:

“I understand that there’s three men in the tackle but you have got to be careful. He lands on his back so you’re alright this time.”

Later today we will see whether or not the disciplinary panel take the same stance with the incident as Liam Moore did on Friday night.

The French side like others in the league will be looking forward to a week off with it being Challenge Cup Final week.