Salford Red Devils’ Paul Rowley gives Emmanuel Waine health update after shocking collision v Catalans Dragons

Salford Red Devils boss Paul Rowley gave an update on the health of Emmanuel Waine following last night’s clash against Catalans Dragons.

Waine was knocked unconscious in the first half of the clash with the Dragons at the Salford Community Stadium with the forward colliding heavily with Catalans forward Franck Maria. The referee showed Maria a red card for his actions, with the head contact being clear, and Joel Tomkins admitted that he expects to see the forward given a ban next week.

The Bradford Bulls loanee was stretchered off the field and straight down the tunnel before being assessed further and Rowley admits that Waine wasn’t recovering as well as the medical staff at Salford had hoped at the interval.

However, when speaking after the full-time whistle, having see his side lose 17-16, with a Ugo Tison drop goal being the difference, Rowley was hopeful that the lack of an update was a positive sign.

“At half-time I don’t think he was recovering as well as they would have liked but I’ve not heard anything bad so I’m hoping that no news is good news,” Rowley told Sky Sports. “He was well asleep and well away.

“Our thoughts are with him and hopefully he’ll be OK and if we get any any news we’ll give you that as soon as. Other than Emmanuel and the concern for his welfare, it rattled us a little bit with our bench selection as well.”

Salford Red Devils were actually leading at the break but despite the man advantage they had, they couldn’t build on that in the second half, with Catalans fighting back to win the game by a single point. Rowley was still full of praise for his makeshift outfit, though, who continue to surprise, despite the well-documented situation.

“What’s most pleasing for me is, and I thought this before the game and said it to the lads, the group has come together brilliantly and in a short space of time we look like a team of lads that care for each other and care about the badge and their own standards as well. They’re quite remarkable these players and I’m very proud of them,” he said.

“I just think it’s testament to rugby players in general. We’re hard working lads and usually from working class beginnings. What we do is allow people to be themselves and let characters be characters. I guess that helps so we have some fun.

“We want to win and compete and we have high standards. It really is nothing that I’m saying or doing to the players, it’s certainly empowerment driven.

“You’ve got Rowan Milnes who has come to the club and been fantastic, Joe Mellor is captain material, he’s fantastic. It’s driven from within and they’re just having a dig. I’m very proud of them.”