Great news would have been a big loss. Can we have the 2 points as well for a clearly fabricated decision to send him off.

Great news

From the chair of the Operational Rules Tribunal. "We accept entirely that the touch judge was genuinely certain that at the time he saw a punch. However, he was not able to point out the punch on the footage. We cannot rule out the fact that he may have been genuinely mistaken and therefore cannot be satisfied to the appropriate standard that a punch was thrown and we allow the appeal".

An absolute nonsense, garbage statement. At the time, maybe. But the MRP doubled down and banned him further based entirely on the TJ's "certainty". He was certain he saw something that didn't actually happen. How many other times has an official been "certain" of something? As I've said earlier, the ramifications for the wider game should be huge.

Exactly. Heat of the moment human error is acceptable. But surely the idea of the MRP is they review the footage before handing out the ban, and if they’d have done that properly there wouldn’t have been a ban. Just makes them look daft.

Sound like a Bulls fan after magic weekend in Cardiff

James McDonnell of Leeds Rhinos has successfully appealed against a Grade D charge of punching in last Friday’s Betfred Super League fixture against St Helens.

McDonnell had been charged by the Match Review Panel on the basis of evidence from the match officials.

HHJ Sarah Wright, who chaired the Operational Rules Tribunal, explained the decision as below took us through a detailed analysis of the footage. It showed beyond doubt that Jonny Lomax was injured and bleeding heavily before the incident involving James McDonnell.

“No punch can be seen on the footage, and it was conceded by the RFL Compliance Manager on behalf of the Match Review Panel that the footage was inconclusive. We were able to view the incident from a number of angles and did not see a punch thrown. We accept entirely that the touch judge was genuinely certain that at the time he saw a punch. However, he was not able to point out the punch on the footage. We cannot rule out the fact that he may have been genuinely mistaken and therefore cannot be satisfied to the appropriate standard that a punch was thrown and we allow the appeal.”

Great news that he is free to play Saturday.
Means that Martin stays in the centre and we don't have to play Olpherts there.

But this is total insanity from the MRP.
Surely they review the footage before dishing out bans??
They are made to look completely inept yet again.

And by the way, the touch judge should be stood down.
You can always forgive them not seeing incidents.
But seeing something that didn't happen is not good enough.
He needs drug testing.

I'd think better of Lomax if he'd admitted he wasn't punched. His silence speaks volumes about him.

I made my mind up on him when he played pretty much the whole season with an injury that needed surgery and then decided rather than continuing to do that for the World Cup he ruled himself out. Compare that to Oldezki who missed a chunk of this season to put his hand up for England.

The reversal of the ban is a good decision and I think the correct outcome, but as ever it's regrettable we ended up here.

However, it does throw up another glaring problem with the process. Effectively this has set the precedent that if there isn't clear video evidence of something happening, it overrides the word of the officials. The wording today confirms they haven't proved he didn't do it, just that they can't sufficiently prove he did. Ignoring this particular incident and focusing on that, I think it's very dangerous. It calls into questioning the whole MRP process, I'm not sure why they forensically re-referee games in the first place. In which other sports do they take the game apart and look to ban as many players as possible? You could very easily ban an extra 20 Premier League players a week if they re-refereed everything that goes on, 50 if you include diving as a bannable offense. Another daft aspect of this is the need they feel to punish someone for an injury. Here, they've used proof that Lomax was bleeding before this incident as mitigation for it. Had he not been, it suggests they would have banned him for it anyway, which again is wrong. If he didn't punch him, why do they feel the need to ban him because there's blood there?

I think attacking Lomax's character is completely out of order though. There are a few on social media wishing injury or worse on Lomax. His comments were not targeted at any player and he did not ask for any cards. He's the captain and is trying to make sure the penalty goes Saints way in the heat of the game. Those wishing injury on him need to reflect, you've got the high Chief of bad character playing fullback for you. This is another example of the outcome of the MRP and their work. The entire sport is incredibly toxic. You've got Sky pundits, journalists, club owners, former referees, coaches, players and fans all bombarding social media after games, demanding bans. The talk after games isn't about Handley's great try or Walmsley's run before the drop goal, Holroyd's development or Walters' spicyness, it's about this player or that player and whether they can ban them for it.

The whole MRP process needs to be ripped up and started again. Let's start trusting the match officials to make decisions and if they are unsure on the field, they refer it to the video ref. You deal with it in game and it's not the next 2,3,4,5 teams the offender plays after it that benefit. If it's something they can't see on the field and can't pick up on the video referee and needs nine camera angles, it's not worth looking at.

Great post

Couldn’t agree more. Rugby Union’s use of the video ref is where I think we should be at. Running things in the background whilst play continues. Try’s being awarded by the referee if the ball has been seen to be grounded. Referee leading the TMO review process where needed.

it was a great post except for the sly dig at myler which was quite uncalled for. and wrong

It's his silence subsequent to the match I have the problem with, not during. Heat of the game I get. Regardless, I certainly wouldn't wish injury upon him.