Sky Sports pundit speaks out on controversial Hull FC decision

Hull FC may be wondering what might have happened if they had not lost Jack Ashworth for 10 minutes sapping energy from their legs against Catalans Dragons.

The Black and Whites seemingly ran out of speed against the French side after they battled hard and it could perhaps be tracked all the way to back to that controversial sin bin.

Back in the day, this tackle would have been your usual big hit that is praised by everyone universally but in this day and age the kind of hit, if it includes head on head contact, it will be punished and that was true of Ashworth who was sin binned.

In fact, when compared to the Mark Percival red card, Ashworth was “lucky” in the eyes of Sky Sports commentator Barrie McDermott to avoid a red card.

He would later say he was “fortunate” to not get a red card.

Hull FC impress despite defeat to Catalans Dragons

Hull FC showed some real guts throughout this Super League clash which they were widely written off for after only just getting over the mark against London Broncos to notch their first win of the season.

It took less than a minute for the Dragons to score as former Castleford Tigers star Mike McMeeken stormed through and teed up Jayden Nikorima to score after starting at fullback in place of Arthur Mourgue.

He touched down less than 40 seconds into the game and would later come off with a hamstring injury.

The Dragons extended their lead after a lovely move left to Matthieu Laguerre to slice through. But the Black and Whites got themselves on the score board when Fa’amanu Brown touched down a kick and would later have a try denied only just by scrambling defence.

Then came the Ashworth incident and he was sin binned as the Dragons kicked the goal to take a 14-6 lead into halftime. Hull FC did miss a penalty of their own.

In the second half Hull FC kept plugging away and claimed another try when the ball bounced off Tom Johnstone, into the face of Carlos Tuimavave leading to a Jack Walker try who then went off injured.

The Black and Whites though would then see the game slip through their fingers as the Dragons notched two more tries to conclude a 26-12 win.