GAME ON : Wigan Warriors v Hull Kingston Rovers - 15:00:00

GENERAL CHAT ABOUT THE GAME, BUILD UP, THE ACTION AS IT HAPPENS AND AFTERMATH BELOW.

Sounds like cheap shot behind the knees by Wigan

Flower Smithies real bad late attacks lower leg. Keyes took big cheap shot when ball gone. Lots of surrounding ref and linesman by Isa Hastings Hardaker. The flower tackle in particular looked really bad and young Storton could be out for while? Only one incident put on report and no use to us in a game we competed well in despite fears Pre match. Mulhern knee got a cannonball. It's a tough game but 3 or 4 real cowardly acts today irrespective of result.

Partington got a mention on the radio for a late shot too

I often moan about our packs lack of aggression but that today was repeated low cynical attacks below knee.Plus a hit on relaxed player after ball gone. Not sure if 1 or 2 on report but won't help us whatsoever. Think Wigan expected a rollover today but we fronted up and with all things considered did ok. A card or 4 would have made it very interesting? Will have to see the hatchet jobs on the high lights but looked very bad in real time.

Unbelievably biased view. Flower came in at the back of the legs where the knee joint is. Maybe a one game ban but not cowardly or ‘real bad’ so grow up. The Mulhern one wasn’t a cannonball in the slightest, I guarantee nothing will come of it. As for the surrounding of the ref, I saw hardly any of that? Maybe once or twice when your team got another 50/50 call but that’s it.

And you scored 3 tries, all off Wigan mistakes. Two of them were very lucky bounces of the ball. The other a dropped high kick.

Never been one for Wigan bashing and it's a fans prerogative to support their team but couple of potential career ending tackles today.Even less deluded Wigan fans say as much on own forum Dirty gets

Career ending? Really? There was 1 bad tackle and the lad got up.

And most the Wigan try’s came through poor contact in defence by us. Easy card to play that one isn’t it.

Indefensible. Or maybe not?

Maybe a one game ban? Who's being biased? Incident online now so people can make own minds up.

Thankfully the disciplinary panel see otherwise....

Flower - 2 match ban (Grade C)
Partington - Tribunal (Grade D)

With the mass hysteria on social media you would've expected a 6 game ban.

I've seen the Partington one since and don't see a whole lot wrong with it, first contact with the hip and then back of the knee not the side. It's no worse than the Flower one.

Pathetic So grades C and D ? Should have been cards.we lose 4 players in game due to being nobbled and gain nothing.In fact it weakens Wigan versus our relegation rivals. On report is just an easy way out. We all have blinkers and defend our teams from perceived wrongs but I can't see how anyone can defend those tackle tactic that Wigan employ, The late hit on Keyes wasn't mentioned and felt that was just as bad.

Haven't seen the Partington one back but sounds like a bad one.

Didn't stick in my mind though at the time but obviously as a Wigan fan I'm used to seeing cannonball tackles and 3rd man in. Weird watching other clubs play and none of them cheat or use foul play.

its just a cop out putting them on report, if its deemed good enough for that it should of at least had a yellow card at worse

Don't play the victim. Every team has had players banned for this or similar on occasion Difference being it's actively encouraged and a drill for Wigan

How do you know that?

One of them wasn't even given as a penalty. In fact, I don't think either were although I don't remember the Partington one.

Any actual evidence of that?

Genuine question, do you actually believe that or was it just emotion being transferred to finger tips.

I’m a Wigan fan. I’m fully aware that in the past, particularly at the start of Maguire's tenure the team was rightly criticised for reckless challenges of this nature but that has changed and has not been the case for some time now.

I hate challenges of this nature and cringe every time I see one. They need to be stamped out and IMO Flower has got off lightly with a 2 match ban. I think the issue is not the ‘third man in’ it is how he enters the tackle and particularly the force that he enters it. In my mind it was most certainly reckless due to the force applied. A player in that circumstance can enter the tackle to wrap up the legs and put the attacker to the floor by making contact at hip level then sliding down to wrap up the legs. Flower didn’t do that. Whether is was though being rusty, miss timed, malicious or just not considering the consequences I’m sure many will make their mind up depending on where their bias lies, only one person knows the answer.

I hope the KR player is not seriously injured and is back on the field soon.

What really irks me is the accusation that the club train to do this with the intent to injure. If that was the case former players would have gone public by now and we would all know. It seems to be the fashion to accuse any indiscretion by a Wigan player to be intentional yet it’s always an accident when the rest of the league commit an offence.

I’ve not seen the Partington one so can’t comment though a grade D charge suggests it was not good.

I’ve said this before. A defensive tactic that many if not all teams apply is to slow the play the ball down by increasing the time from the initial point of contact to when the attacker is put to ground and held is called. This is why teams hold the player up, wrestle a bit and then put him to the ground. On many occasions forward momentum has stopped but the attacker is still held up for a few seconds before being put to ground. If we changed the way this is policed and the refs called held earlier ie at the point momentum has stopped. The attacker would still be standing and afforded a quick play the ball. Defensive tactics would have to change and the risk of this type of injury would be significantly reduced, just a thought…

Pretty much what Trainman said.

Isn't the answer just to ban that type of tackle completely. No question about it being reckless etc, just make it illegal in any form. It could just go the way of shoulder charges.

And unlike the shoulder charge being banned, outlawing this type of tackle could improve the spectacle as it would lead to more offloads and forwards battling for more ground.

The Mulhern one definitely was, both caused the players to leave the field (and probably miss a few games) and yet not a card in sight. Not saying its a drilled thing, just a bad nasty tackle and on report is just a cop out for the ref. If those games had been on TV Wigan would have been down to 11, as it is they'll have players missing against teams that will be in and around us.