St Helens head coach Paul Wellens has labelled Lewis Murphy’s sin-binning in Saturday’s Super League Magic Weekend clash against Leeds as “ridiculous” and “flabbergasting.”
Speaking after his side’s 17-4 defeat to Leeds, Wellens addressed the major talking point of the game as Murphy was sent from the field of play on 61 minutes with the match finely poised at 10-4 having jumped above and collided with Alfie Edgell under a high ball.
“I thought it was ridiculous, to be quite honest with you,” Wellens said. “Lewis Murphy goes up and contests the ball. He’s got eyes for one thing and one thing only, and that’s the ball.
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Highlights of St Helens’ match against Leeds Rhinos in the Super League
“We had Jake Wingfield in a Challenge Cup game at Warrington knocked out cold in a game the other week. We were told that it was just an accident from a rugby injury.
“What’s the difference between that and this here tonight? It’s quite flabbergasting, to be honest with you, because that was a big momentum shift in the game.
“We were stronger, then they go down the other end and make it 11-4. So, yeah, I thought it was a ridiculous call.”
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St Helens head coach Paul Wellens told Sky Sports he was ‘flabbergasted’ by the Murphy incident
Asked further questions about the incident, Wellens name-checked Phil Bentham – Head of Match Officials at the RFL – as the individual who should answer to it.
“I get asked these questions as a coach. We’re judged on our results and we have to come here and answer questions. And that’s all part and parcel of being in this job.
“However, I’m quite often answering questions around refereeing decisions. And inconsistencies around refereeing decisions. And I think maybe it’s got to the point where we as coaches should stop answering those questions.
“And maybe we get Phil Bentham to come and front up. And he answers the questions as to why these decisions are so inconsistent on a weekly basis.
“I think everybody who’s been in rugby league a long time sees that for what it is. But for some reason as a refereeing team now we seem to complicate the life out of every single decision that goes on in the course of 80 minutes.”
On the incident, Leeds head coach Brad Arthur said: “It’s unfortunate, but the rules are you can’t make contact with the head. Nobody is meaning to do it, but if that’s the stance, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
The defeat was St Helens’ third in succession, with Wellens’ job coming under pressure. Indeed, a fan attempted to confront him at St James’ Park following Saturday’s loss.
“I’m going to continue to conduct myself in the right way despite being under obviously a huge amount of pressure, I know that,” Wellens said.
“If people want to behave in a certain way, then let them do that. If that’s the way they want to be, then I certainly won’t stoop to that level.”
Welsby: I didn’t go over to our fans after abuse of players, coach – we back our head coach
St Helen’s Jack Welsby told All Out Rugby League: “We were behind the sticks and were copping it as players, at certain individual players, so I’ve not gone over at the end because I’m not copping that.
“We’re trying our hardest, we’re as frustrated as you. A player that’s won a Harry Sunderland, a Lance Todd, Man of Steel, at this club, it’s no way to treat a man whether you’re happy with the performances or not. We’re trying our best and we’re trying to turn a corner.
“So my message to the fans would be to stick with us and don’t blame one person.
Wellens, a man under pressure for his job, was booed by Saints fans, with one seeking to confront him after
“We’d be stupid to turn on our head coach. He’s the man leading you and I bet he’s feeling it more than the players at the minute and he’s trying to protect us the best he can. I do feel for him, he doesn’t drop the ball, make the wrong pass, make the wrong kick or the wrong call.
“We’re all behind him and we are going to turn the corner, I’m very confident in that, it’s just when and where, but it’s got to be soon.”
Wilkin: I just don’t see a sin-binning at all | Carney: You can’t sin-bin Murphy for that
Sky Sports Rugby League’s Jon Wilkin said:
“When you’re chasing the game, having a full complement of players is crucial, especially if you’re throwing shape at teams and Lewis Murphy missing after this on 61 minutes was big.
“I’m not saying it would have sorted the game out for Saints because they’re far from perfect right now, but for me I’m lost when I’m watching our game now. I don’t know what decisions are going to come out.
“You know, I criticised the red cards at Headingley the other week. I just don’t see it [Murphy’s sin-bin] at all. I think it’s a massive blob.
“Jack Sinfield shoulder-charged someone in the head last week and got the same as that [Murphy’s yellow card], which is completely accidental. It’s completely out of the control of the player. It’s a challenge in the air.
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Jon Wilkin, Brian Carney and Jamie Jones-Buchanan debate whether the referee made the right decision to sin-bin Murphy
“It’s an incredible jump and it’s a pathetic attempt at jumping to catch the ball from Alfie Edgell, who doesn’t get off the floor at all.
“It’s completely accidental. It’s actually routinely sort of part of the game. Look, it can result in injury and head injury. So can a lot of things.
“My alarm bells go off when I’m watching a game with 20 years of experience of watching rugby, playing rugby, being around professional rugby, I’m coming to games and not knowing what the decision is going to be. And that’s with 20 years’ experience. We’re trying to educate new viewers to come and watch it.”
Sky Sports Rugby League’s Brian Carney said…
“What it smacks of, if you remember the Nu Brown incident between Warrington and Hull FC last year, where Nu Brown made head-on-head contact and they applied the rules strictly according to the framework.
“And suddenly after that, they realised, things like this can happen in a rugby league game and we can’t be red-carding people for that. So they changed the rules the following Monday and said they allowed referees to use their knowledge of the game to mitigate the sanction, to reflect the level of culpability of the players.
“How could you not look at that [Murphy incident] as a referee and say, that’s just a rugby league incident?
“That’s Lewis Murphy doing nothing wrong. I mean, towards the end of the game, Tristan Sailor uses his knees when he go up to catch the ball. It naturally happens.
“Penalise him, okay, but you can’t penalise him and sin-bin him for that.”
Round 10 – Magic Weekend
Saturday May 3 – all exclusively live on Sky Sports
Leigh 26-24 Catalans
Hull KR 54-0 Salford
St Helens 4-17 Leeds
Sunday 4th May – all exclusively live on Sky Sports
Huddersfield vs Hull FC – 1pm
Wigan vs Warrington – 3.15pm
Castleford vs Wakefield – 5.30pm
Sky Sports will again show every game of Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+ via the red button.
