Referee Chris Kendall slammed for poor decisions in Challenge Cup Final

The Challenge Cup Final between Wigan and Warrington at Wembley unsurprisingly started at a high intensity with tackles flying in from both teams.

It didn’t take long for someone to get one of those wrong with Mike Cooper hitting Josh Thewlis around the head with a swinging arm just two minutes in.

Cooper was unfortunate given that Thewlis was falling, however, there was no sympathy from the officials with referee Chris Kendall showing the earliest card in Challenge Cup Final history.

As if that wasn’t enough, moments later there was another yellow card shown. This time it was to a Warrington player as Liam Marshall was hit high by Matt Dufty.

Again, replays showed Marshall falling in the tackle, but again another ‘harsh’ decision was made by Kendall, with Dufty following Cooper into the sin-bin.

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BBC commentator slams early calls in Challenge Cup Final

Both incidents enraged BBC co-commentator Jonathan Davies, with the former Great Britain fullback believing referee Kendall got both decisions wrong.

“I can’t believe this is happening. That’s ridiculous,” said Davies at the time. “Josh Thewlis is slipping, he’s going down,

“He’s got to swing it right down Cooper does, but he’s going down is Thewlis and I think, you know, it’s a harsh penalty.

“I don’t know what he does there Cooper, he’s trying to wrap him up and get it round and catch him and he slips.”

Moments later, Davies then commented on the incident which saw Dufty sent to the sin-bin believing he was only shown a yellow card because Cooper was.

“I can’t believe this. It’s [got to be] in the context of the game (each individual incident).

“You can’t do tit-for-tat. Just because one is yellow the other one might not be yellow, but clearly because of the first decision he (Kendall) is going to do the same (show Dufty a yellow card).

“They’re both wrong for me. There’s no foul play intended. He’s slipped up above there. Hasn’t hit him in the head. He’s gone over his head. Keep both players on the field.

“For me it’s two penalties, if that, and play on.”

Sitting alongside Davies was former Bradford Bulls and Great Britain head coach Brian Noble. ‘Nobby’ was in agreement with Davies about both incidents.

“The referees have got the terminology wrong when they talk about a forceful tackle,” said Noble. “You expect your players to be forceful.

“I think it’s intent isn’t it? If it’s intent for foul play and it’s intent to be overly aggressive in the wrong way, cool, punish players.

“In this case, to me, I think they’re both wrong. Both decisions are wrong. We have got to keep players on the field.”