Flower

[thegimble]

Kiwi - your post is wrong!!

Brilliantly argued...

Hohaia should have been sent off irrelevant of Flowers retaliation!!

My post under yours was done without reading your post. Ref got it wrong in not sending both off.

[TrueBlueWarrior]

Would have thought he might have got away with a yellow for the first punch, but the second one needs a lot of explaining, or is it just need?

But why a yellow.

Direct deliberate contact to the head is a sending off offence. So Flower was correctly sent off on the 1st punch alone.

But please tell me why the Saints guy did not. He ran from a distance raised his elbow and contacted with Flowers head. That is a sending off. Or is the rule changed and you can get away with elbows to the face in a GF. Wire tried it and got away in the game but Westwood got a ban for it.

People can not just blame Flower for the lose Bentham should have sent Hohia off as well. Interesting for the disciplinary tomorrow, will we see the RFL punish Flower only but will they bring Hohia in as well and basically tell the world that Bentham got it wrong. Or will they bottle it and punish Flower with a 4 game ban only and let both Saints and Bentham off the hook.

We all know the anser to that ig Hetherington could tell you the answer to it. RFL will protect the ref tomorrow as usuall.

According to some Hohaia shouldn't have been sent off!!

[Wandering Warrior]

I didn't think the refereeing was too bad TBH. I don't buy into cps conspiracy theory. Its a bit crazy IMO.

We had more than enough chances to win that game regardless of any decisions but it didn't work out for us.

Thank God for some sense Mike!!!

I, like everyone else, is reeling from the events of last night but reading some of the nonsense written on here just makes it worse.
If you genuinely believe that there was some conspiracy against us last night, you're wrong.
If you think Bentham's refereeing was poor or biased, you're wrong.
If you think Hohaia (sp) should have been sent off too, you're wrong.
If you think the RFL have orchestrated a Saints win, you're wrong.
If you think that it was anything other than the writing being on the wall after 2 mins, you're wrong.

Ben Flower did something reprehensibly stupid and it cost us the match and the League. It was the reddest of red cards, they don't make cards red enough for what he did. Wigan, like the champion team they are, battled until the last half an hour where they ran out of steam against a massive pack who steamrollered us up the middle and gained huge field position and momentum. That gave them the opportunity to score and they managed to limp over the line.
It was a woeful display by Saints but it was just enough against 12 men.
13 a side it could have been very different but we'll never know.

I just wanted to give my two pennies worth and hopefully stifle some of the absurdity that I read on here sometimes.

Kiwi - your post is wrong!!

No it's not it's spot on!
Flower's sending off cost us the match. He behaved like a right thug, and I suspect he knows that at this moment? Get over it!!

[thegimble]

Thank God for some sense Mike!!!

I, like everyone else, is reeling from the events of last night but reading some of the nonsense written on here just makes it worse.
If you genuinely believe that there was some conspiracy against us last night, you're wrong.
If you think Bentham's refereeing was poor or biased, you're wrong.
If you think Hohaia (sp) should have been sent off too, you're wrong.
If you think the RFL have orchestrated a Saints win, you're wrong.
If you think that it was anything other than the writing being on the wall after 2 mins, you're wrong.

Ben Flower did something reprehensibly stupid and it cost us the match and the League. It was the reddest of red cards, they don't make cards red enough for what he did. Wigan, like the champion team they are, battled until the last half an hour where they ran out of steam against a massive pack who steamrollered us up the middle and gained huge field position and momentum. That gave them the opportunity to score and they managed to limp over the line.
It was a woeful display by Saints but it was just enough against 12 men.
13 a side it could have been very different but we'll never know.

I just wanted to give my two pennies worth and hopefully stifle some of the absurdity that I read on here sometimes.

Kiwi - your post is wrong!!

No it's not it's spot on!
Flower's sending off cost us the match. He behaved like a right thug, and I suspect he knows that at this moment? Get over it!!

Not many disagree with you.

But direct contact to the head is a sending off both should have walked.

[TrueBlueWarrior]

Thank God for some sense Mike!!!

I, like everyone else, is reeling from the events of last night but reading some of the nonsense written on here just makes it worse.
If you genuinely believe that there was some conspiracy against us last night, you're wrong.
If you think Bentham's refereeing was poor or biased, you're wrong.
If you think Hohaia (sp) should have been sent off too, you're wrong.
If you think the RFL have orchestrated a Saints win, you're wrong.
If you think that it was anything other than the writing being on the wall after 2 mins, you're wrong.

Ben Flower did something reprehensibly stupid and it cost us the match and the League. It was the reddest of red cards, they don't make cards red enough for what he did. Wigan, like the champion team they are, battled until the last half an hour where they ran out of steam against a massive pack who steamrollered us up the middle and gained huge field position and momentum. That gave them the opportunity to score and they managed to limp over the line.
It was a woeful display by Saints but it was just enough against 12 men.
13 a side it could have been very different but we'll never know.

I just wanted to give my two pennies worth and hopefully stifle some of the absurdity that I read on here sometimes.

Kiwi - your post is wrong!!

No it's not it's spot on!
Flower's sending off cost us the match. He behaved like a right thug, and I suspect he knows that at this moment? Get over it!!

Direct contact to the head with a forearm off the ball SHOULD result in a red card, therefore Hohaia should have been sent off. Please don't tell me to get over something that was the wrong decision an injustice and cost us the match, if you don't realise that then you need to read the rule book!!

[cpwigan]

I never wish injury to RL players, on this occasion I wish Ben had suffered a broken jaw, a very possible outcome from elbows in the face. People would have reacted so differently. Yet, they should not.

[Kiwiseddon]

I will concede that on another day, Hohaiohaio (still can't spell it) could / should have been sent off.

[TrueBlueWarrior]

The officials were spot on with the decisions they made. Flower absolutely had to go. There's no defending his actions.

He instigated the incident by hitting Hohaia around the head with his arm when chasing the high kick. Hohaia came back looking for some retribution. His 'forearm to the face' was not worthy of a sending off. It wasn't particularly bad. If a Wigan player was sent off for that we'd all be absolutely livid because it just wasn't a particularly bad offence. It was more of a shove than anything else.

Still, it gave Flower enough reason to see it as instigating a fight so he clocked him. That I can understand. The punch while on the ground was disgusting and will see him sat on the sidelines for a few matches.

The entire incident was understandable in a game of rugby, up until the final punch to a player on the ground who couldn't defend himself. You just don't do that.

Flower should have been sent off ABSOLUTELY but to say Hohaia's wasn't a red and wasn't that bad is incorrect, it was bad and a red card!!

[Panchitta Marra]

I didn't think the refereeing was too bad TBH. I don't buy into cps conspiracy theory. Its a bit crazy IMO.

We had more than enough chances to win that game regardless of any decisions but it didn't work out for us.

Thank God for some sense Mike!!!

I, like everyone else, is reeling from the events of last night but reading some of the nonsense written on here just makes it worse.
If you genuinely believe that there was some conspiracy against us last night, you're wrong.
If you think Bentham's refereeing was poor or biased, you're wrong.
If you think Hohaia (sp) should have been sent off too, you're wrong.
If you think the RFL have orchestrated a Saints win, you're wrong.
If you think that it was anything other than the writing being on the wall after 2 mins, you're wrong.

Ben Flower did something reprehensibly stupid and it cost us the match and the League. It was the reddest of red cards, they don't make cards red enough for what he did. Wigan, like the champion team they are, battled until the last half an hour where they ran out of steam against a massive pack who steamrollered us up the middle and gained huge field position and momentum. That gave them the opportunity to score and they managed to limp over the line.
It was a woeful display by Saints but it was just enough against 12 men.
13 a side it could have been very different but we'll never know.

I just wanted to give my two pennies worth and hopefully stifle some of the absurdity that I read on here sometimes.

Running in and making contact with an elbow to the face is NOT a sending off offence Kiwi? I thought that only intent was sufficient for a referee to send someone off with the use of an elbow to the face.
I'll say my ten peneth too in that if roles had happened the other way and the elbow was raised by a wiganer, he too would have been sent off as Hicks would have fed Bentham the full details and not just the punching.
This does not detract from the fact that Flower was an idiot making that 2nd punch.

[Wandering Warrior]

The officials were spot on with the decisions they made. Flower absolutely had to go. There's no defending his actions.

He instigated the incident by hitting Hohaia around the head with his arm when chasing the high kick. Hohaia came back looking for some retribution. His 'forearm to the face' was not worthy of a sending off. It wasn't particularly bad. If a Wigan player was sent off for that we'd all be absolutely livid because it just wasn't a particularly bad offence. It was more of a shove than anything else.

Still, it gave Flower enough reason to see it as instigating a fight so he clocked him. That I can understand. The punch while on the ground was disgusting and will see him sat on the sidelines for a few matches.

The entire incident was understandable in a game of rugby, up until the final punch to a player on the ground who couldn't defend himself. You just don't do that.

Flower should have been sent off ABSOLUTELY but to say Hohaia's wasn't a red and wasn't that bad is incorrect, it was bad and a red card!!

We'll never know what would have happened if Flower had not responded, as I've written in a previous post. However tomorrow we will find out what Flower's prospective fate will be and whether Hohia will face any ramifications.
The prattling on about should have been this and that is rather tedious and childish if I'm honest. Look in the paper and move on, nothing is going to change!