Wakefield Trinity won their first game yesterday as they defeated Leeds Rhinos despite a red card to Hugo Salabio.
He was sent off after 45 minutes for a dangerous tackle on Richie Myler after an error as he seemingly dropped Myler on his head.
Former player Nick Fozzard wasn’t impressed by the decision at all.
“Just seen a bloke sent off. I’ve not seen it in detail but are you kidding me????” he said on Twitter.
“Absolutely ridiculous. I’ve not seen it on tv so don’t know for sure if it was bad but from here – terrible decision.”
Here is an image from the game:
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com – 11/06/2023 – Rugby League – Betfred Super League Round 15 – Wakefield Trinity v Leeds Rhinos – Be Well Support Stadium, Wakefield, England – Wakefield’s Hugo Salabio upends Leeds’s Richie Myler.
Fozzard interestingly is one of the big names in the lawsuit against the RFL.
Despite being the team hurt by the card, Mark Applegarth had no complaints:
“Obviously Hugo’s really disappointed that he’s got that red card but I thought before that he was putting himself about.
“I thought it’s a red there’s no questions about it I thought referee yeah he dumped him on his head I don’t think there were any intent but yeah there’s no crimes from us there we deserved red card and Hugo’s disappointed but you know that’s the rules of the game isn’t it.
“I thought it could go one of two ways, they were really confident at half time that if we kept his foot on the throw and you know kept his completions high in yardage and kept on moving the ball around in good ball.
“You know Leeds were coming away in error too, especially coming out of their own half so we’re still pretty confident and I thought it’s going to go one of two ways this, we’re either going to drop their heads and you know let them get back into it or we’re going to keep his foot on the throw and keep that pressure on so just glad that they chose the latter and showed what character they’ve got.”
