Sky Sports pundits Phil Clarke and Adrian Lam call out St Helens’ Sione Mata’utia following red card

Last night, St Helens put Huddersfield Giants to the sword in emphatic fashion with a 25-0 victory.

But, during the middle of the first-half, you would have been forgiven to think that Saints may fall short – even at home at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

That’s because, the Red Vee’s Sione Mata’utia was given his marching orders by referee Chris Kendall after appearing to pick up prone Huddersfield player Danny Levi.

There has been zero tolerance in those incidents with Halifax Panthers’ Titus Gwaze given an eight-match ban for a similar offence in the West Yorkshire club’s win over Barrow Raiders a fortnight ago.

And, for Leigh Centurions head coach Adrian Lam – who was a guest in the Sky Sports studio for the Saints win – clubs have been told about the increasing punishment for incidents like that.

“We’ve been warned by some of those decisions within the heat of the game and there have been suspensions across the board,” Lam said.

“It’s sad for the game to see that but it’s also so early in the game.

“It’s a touchy point because that (feigning injury) does happen. Regardless you can see all players throw their arms up when it happens.”

For Phil Clarke, however, players do not know what kind of injury those on the floor could have, whilst the former Wigan Warriors forward was also keen to stress that video replays should not be used for incidents like these.

“For all he knew Danny Levi might have had a serious spinal injury. He might have had a catastrophic injury – you don’t know.

“But it sends a clear message to every one at every level.

“On a side note, I don’t like to see the action replay for issues like that. Ban the replays for that if the referee and video referee don’t see it then you should play on.”