It was only flat at the bottom Charlie

I think Fax had been told before the game to wind Barlow up because they know he has a short fuse. However by the time Barlow came on Fax were winning easy and on a roll and yet they still tried to wind him up even though they didn't need to do so.

Barlow obliged (obviously) because he is too much of a hot-head at times and gets drawn into it too easily. But it dragged both teams into a brawl and at the end it was Leigh who came back to playing rugby first and Fax carried on with the rough stuff (Tonks imparticular was throwing head high shots and leading with the elbow all 2nd half)

I think both teams were as bad as each other in turning the match into a brawl but it suited Leigh and definitely stopped Fax's momentum. Once the momentum was stopped Leigh went back to playing rugby (except Barlow who got himself sent off) and Fax carried on trying to 'smash' Leigh until suddenly we scored back to back tries and took the lead. At that point Leigh had then momentum and Fax couldn't stop it even with an extra man, just like we struggled to stop you 1st half when you were on a roll.

Basically Fax went out of their way to wind up Barlow (which worked) but at a time when one more try would have finished the game IMO.

What evidence do you have that Fax wound Barlow up when he came on? I think Barlow was sent on by Rowley to break the game up because Leigh were getting mullered. It worked.

Sam didn't have time to get wound up by the Fax players. His first challenge on getting on the pitch was a swinging straight arm challenge to the Fax players head. That is what started the initial rough stuff. Within another 2 minutes he was off the field again.
He's a nice lad off the field, just can't help himself though when he's on the field.

Sorry but the tackle he was sin binned for was a fair one! Also the second sin bin ref got wrong it was Tonks and Emmet not Acton so ref had a shocker IMHO .
No film of the sending off but apparently he missed with his punch so I think he will get sending off suffient.
As for our dirty tactics watch again Tonks closely !!!!!!

Well said Lynda , only GFs Bootees has apparently seen the replay and his views makes Karl Harrisons views on the match as perfect .

Not a chance that Barlow`s tackle is legal. Watch closely and you can see his arm is high but not only that it looks like his shoulder that connects with Bracek`s head causing his head to whip backwards. I think it should have been a straight red and the only thing that stopped that happening was because Bracek stayed on his feet wanting to fight.

The sending off offence is also on the video, its a punch to Heaton for no reason I would imagine, plus the fighting with Manning before that an also the fighting with Potts after that. Watch him that last set of 6 when the trainer has told him he is coming off, like a bear with a sore behind just looking for trouble. That try should have been disallowed because of his actions on the tackle of the try.

Ive also watched Tonks and cant really say I saw much, the thing that seemed to wind him up was when he flatted the Leigh player with a legitimate hand off and he comes back in and grabs him round the head, again something the ref missed but is clear on the video.

We'll see what happens at the disciplinary. The length of his ban will shore up one version of these events or another. Either that or his past thuggish record may come back to haunt him and they'll six-match him anyway.

Littlerich]



, I saw the incident and there was no fight, just one uppercut from Slamming Sam "as Pete Emmett" used to call him.

League Weekly match report has among other things these quotes in brackets below from Paul Rowley himself.

Rowley admitted that fightback was probably an accurate description.

"We were really poor starting and I felt we needed a game changer and if that was a scuffle, so be it," he said.

"That's what happened and I felt from there on in the game changed in our favour."

End quotes.

It was planned and it worked by his own admission.

Great coaching or dirty tactics, decide for yourself it won't change the result and it only worked because of a weak man in the middle and his side kicks who missed most of the important calls, they couldn't even pick out the right people involved between themselves.

If you win games like this it doesn't matter and you turn a blind eye to it.
If you lose it does and we complain about it.

Sooner or later everyone is on the receiving end so win or lose why should we be happy when we are served up this standard of officialdom on a regular basis, we don't expect perfection but 2 out of 10 would be a 100% improvement on that display.

That quote should be taken to the disciplinary hearing.

Karl Harrison needs to get clued up too. Both Rowley and Aston deploy these tactics when they're beaten all ends up because they know it yields results.

Rubbish

It want really a dirty game just lots of niggles and sly digs both parties guilty what excuse for Fieldhouses gesture as he scores wht excuse for the ref getting the wrong man when he gave yellow cards to acton and Tonks, I agree he had a shocker and as our commentator said he evened up the penalty count in the second half.

Both coaches will say the ref had a shocker

The difference is that his shocker involved him granting Leigh 3 tries that should never have been allowed. Take the Barlow try out of the game before half time and Leigh maybe dont come back.

The ref`s reward for what can only be described as an abysmal display? Promotion to SL this week.

Good, they can have him.