Disgusting verminous cowardly scum

Firstly, as has been recognised, some of the comments from Wigan fans (and it seems to be exclusively Wigan fans) that Lance instigated it, is laughable. Flower clobbered Lance from behind, off the ball, on the 20 metre line and ran away. Flower then had possession of the ball and Lance made a run for Flower to retaliate the original cowardly attack. Should Lance have retaliated? Probably not - but there is not a single player on the pitch who would have ignored being whacked from behind for no reason. Lance was guilty of human instinct. Flower then punched Lance for retaliating, and then smacked him again when he was defenceless on the floor. Lance has no case to answer, whereas Flower is facing months and months on the sideline.

Secondly, the fact Shaun Wane has come out and defended Flower is disgusting. Flower should and will get a lengthy ban, and rightfully so. Wane saying Flower was in the wrong, but that the club will 'stand by him' shows the integrity of Wigan rugby club. They should distance themselves from his actions and hand a club ban for him. Take Man Utds stance when Cantona lost his head - the club banned him before the FA did. That sent out a message that the club would not stand for anything that puts the name of the club into disrepute.

Thirdly, I'm sure we've all seen the video of Wane in the dressing room by now. That video needs to go viral, as it goes a long way to explain why Flower did what he did. Wane states 'lets knock people out, cause mayhem. We need to be reckless as that is how we're going to win next week'. Well, it seems Flower was only taking orders from the thug who is in charge. Is it really Ben Flower who lost the Grand Final for Wigan, or was it their house coach? Either way, 'being reckless is how we'll win' backfired majorly, and I think Wane needs to make a personal apology, instead of hiding behind the apology of Flower and Wigan.

One final point, is people saying Wigan would have won had the incident not happened. Although we'll never know, and its hard to disagree with that, people are forgetting that Lance never returned. Lance was our ONLY half back last night, and even then some would argue he isn't actually a halfback. Although we always had a man extra on the field, for the remaining 78 minutes it was 16v16, and they had two more half backs that we did. We had to make do with a second rower and a three quarter playing in the two most important positions on the field - and to cope with that responsbility, against a Wigan side who not only didn't give up, but who were meant to win comfortably, proves that Saints are worthy Champions.

You don't finish top of the league and win the Grand Final by accident.