Last night Leeds Rhinos won a dramatic game against Huddersfield thanks to a late try from Blake Austin although some would point to the controversial yellow card for Chris Hill which many felt was milked by Richie Myler.
Tonight the Leeds assistant coach Jamie Jones-Buchanan spoke on Sky Sports about the incident and gave a fair view looking at the way the game is run rather than the incident itself: “It was one of those moments where I took a deep breath and said ‘this is where the game is at’ for a multitude of mostly positive reasons.
“I think the referees are given a mandate to referee the game in a certain way that’s black and white which means bad incidents get pulled up and rightly sent to the bin or sent off but that sometimes that gets dragged in with some of the pantomime incidents and everything in between.
“I don’t think that was a sin binning, I don’t think Richie Myler would say it was a sin bin either but Richie Myler didn’t put him in the bin either.
“Lots to think about in the off season.”
He also noted that incidents like this could work against the reputation of the sport: “We’re playing a game aren’t we and it’s governed by rules. It’s the people who adjudicate those rules who are responsible for how we use those rules.
“If you want to change behaviours and habits then you’ve got to change the outcome by the way you referee the game.
“You see players doing whatever they can to get the win and going home with a wink and that’s been going on for years.
“Personally, if we want the game to have the stoic image it deserves as it’s the best game in the world we don’t want players rolling around on the floor but sometimes winning is king.”
He was joined by former Catalans man Jerome Guisset on Sky who also had his say on the incident: “I’m definitely not condoning it, I don’t think it’s the right thing to do but the way the game is refereed at the moment is very black and white and this is because of the smarts of one guy, smarts not in a good way.”
