Warrington Wolves fans boo as controversial rule seals their defeat

After an amazing encounter on Good Friday which saw St Helens defeat Wigan Warriors to take top spot, both Warrington Wolves and Catalans Dragons had the chance to join the Saints at the Super League summit.

The Wolves’ only defeat of the Super League season so far came against Catalans Dragons way back on Round One away from home.

The Dragons have only lost one game themselves losing to Leeds Rhinos in Round Three as Steve McNamara’s new look Catalans side play with the same attitude as the side who reached the 2023 Grand Final.

It was a terrible start though for Sam Burgess’ side who quickly were facing down the prospect of their first home defeat. After an error from Paul Vaughan, the Dragons put on a set pattern play and Tom Davies powered through the tackles to score.

It was his fellow winger, his fellow Tom, who scored next. After confusion at the ruck, Jordan Abdull put the kick in behind and Tom Johnstone beat Matt Dufty to the ball to score.

Then things got worse for the Wolves as Paul Vaughan was sin binned for a tip tackle and in his absence Ben Garcia powered over.

Then the Wolves developed some momentum and came very close to scoring after a George Williams kick was taken by Lachlan Fitzgibbon who was tackled just short.

The Wolves deserved a try and it came on the back of a quick ruck allowing Danny Walker to feed the ball out the back to Zane Musgrove to score.

The Wolves had the momentum and a lovely short side play by George Williams picked out Matty Ashton and he gave the ball inside to Toby King to score and the Wolves were back in it.

But they again started the second half slow. After Adam Holroyd held up Michael McIlorum, a kick out wide was batted back to Cesar Rouge to score and give the Dragons a 24-12 lead. They extended that further after lovely offloads from Abdull and Arthur Romano and the Dragons led 28-12 and the game looked gone. That was until James Harrison spun around and was able to ground the ball. Then a lovely side step gave the Wolves back to back tries. George Williams carved through the defence to score and make it 28-24.

Warrington had some huge chances to snatch the win but some amazing defence denied them. Crucially, Catalans Dragons went up the other end of the field and took the win after an Abdull kick was batted back and scored by the kicker himself to wrap up a 32-24 win and move joint top with St Helens.

Warrington Wolves fans boo as video referee rule causes more debate

It was a terrific game but sadly the Warrington Wolves fans were left booing at the end likely due to the awarding of the last try for Abdull that sealed the game.

However, there was nothing wrong done by referee Jack Smith nor video referee Liam Kendall. Smith referred the decision to Kendall as a try and without “sufficient evidence” – as Kendall was heard saying on Sky Sports – to rule on whether or not there had been a knock on as the ball had been hit down to Abdull Kendall had to award the try in the letter of the law.

This rule has proven to be hugely controversial over the last few years such as in the World Club Challenge.

It is something that perhaps needs some consideration but both officials applied the rules impecably.

The boos from the Wolves was far more out of frustration than an assessment of the officials.