Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR both had men sent off in controversial fashion last night and rugby league fans have now had their say.
Hull KR won 20-14 after trailing 14-6 with just 15 minutes to go and their comeback was seemingly sparked by the red card shown to forward Sauaso Sue with the Robins’ prop sent off for his shot on Sam Lisone.
Sue made no attempt to wrap and collected his fellow prop around the head, however, Lisone was falling and approaching knee height when contact was made but Chris Kendall and video referee Liam Rush were having none of it.
Willie Peters conceded that his side “attacked better” with twelve men and their comeback was triggered when Mikey Lewis nailed a 40/20 to help spin the momentum, something which was only added to when Leeds saw their captain Ash Handley sent off for a similar incident to Sue’s.
Handley didn’t wrap and caught Arthur Mourgue high, however, the Frenchman was dipping and there did appear to be less force but the Leeds man was still sent his marching orders on the 70th minute mark. It is worth noting that had he been sin binned, he still wouldn’t have returned to the field of play so the colour of card is largely irrelevant in terms of the game, but the precedent set could be dangerous.
Both red cards got rugby league fans talking and Serious About Rugby League posted the question whether a red card for Sauaso Sue was the right call.
What rugby league fans said about Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR red cards
There were well over 500 comments (at the time of writing) in the replies as rugby league fans debated the decisions but they made their feelings clear on one matter and that was consistency, both the lack of it and the need for it.
Here’s what fans had to say.
Zoe Nimmo: There’s no consistency. Cust was a red. Two tackles similar in Wigan vs Saints both yellows. Sinfields yellow but Sue red. All extremely similar, yet treated differently.
Gavin Atkinson: I’m no kr fan but the refs are shockingly poor and inconsistent, the Leeds sin bin was actually worse than the kr sending off. No wonder fans and coaches are so confused.
Jason Thornton: Hull had a similar red with Cust last week. I thought that was deserved, but this was a harsh one. Wouldn’t have argued with a yellow though.
Sam O’Brien: Scandalous decisions, the players are just trying to make a tackle.
David Charlton: Even though i have no argument over the red.. it shows the inconsistency when sinfield does a shoulder direct to head and only gets a yellow.
Peter Meredith: What has happened to RL? First game I’ve watched in ages and it’s gone soft. Both tackles didn’t warrant a card and no consistency from the referee.
Brian Howard: Yellow at best! Lisone on the way down, Sue a fraction late and as a result high contact! Sue could not teleport himself through time and space to avoid contact.
Mike Dixon: All we want as rugby fans is consistency. In my opinion it was exactly the same as Jack Sinfields tackle.
