Warrington Wolves make appeal decision after Paul Vaughan ban

Warrington Wolves will appeal the three-match ban handed to their star forward Paul Vaughan following his controversial red card against Leigh Leopards.

That has been confirmed by the RFL with Warrington set to appear at an Operational Rules Tribunal later this evening to context the grading of Vaughan’s three-match ban.

The Australian was handed a Grade D charge for ‘Head Contact’ with the three-match sanction coming at the higher end of the grade for recommended sanctioning. He also copped a £250 fine.

That followed his red card early on against Leigh Leopards on Friday night for hs tackle on Frankie Halton. The Leopards had just scored and Vaughan was the second man in the tackle as Halton carried the ball out from the kick-off.

After the second-rower stayed down, the video referee took a look at the incident which resulted in Vaughan being shown a red card and sent off, much to the dismay of fans and the anger of Sam Burgess who would tee off on the decision post-match.

Burgess’ fury suggested that Warrington may well appeal and that has now been confirmed.

What Sam Burgess said after Warrington Wolves star’s red card

The three-match ban handed to Paul Vaughan meant that he would miss the remainder of the regular season, however, if the club are successful at an appeal then it could be reduced or even overturned.

Vaughan was one of six players banned, including a Castleford Tigers academy player, with a total of ten players charged across Super League. At present, only Warrington Wolves have confirmed intent to appeal.

That was somewhat expected given Sam Burgess’ upset over the red card with the Wire boss speaking post-match about the decision.

“It was embarrassing”, Burgess argued.

“It has become a theatrical game. Numerous players were telling players to stay down when we were about to play on. Is it really a red card? Were there mitigating factors? I believe so. I would have said yellow. It was such a big call because it had such an influence on the result.”

He also had made the point that his side ‘won’ the game after the sending-off, outscoring Leigh 12-10 despite the man disadvantage, although they would fall to a 16-12 loss which has made their chances of winning the League Leaders Shield very slim.