Double trouble for Hull KR after match review panel lays down their laws
Hull Kingston Rovers having Jai Whitbread banned for Friday night's game at Leigh Leopards is another blow for the Robins, who are being punished twice for the same controversial incident.
Aside from the issue of whether it is right these days that Whitbread's high shot warranted his sin-binning on Friday night at Wigan Warriors, the fact is that they have already suffered from it. Rovers were 14-20 up on the scoreboard at the time after 59 minutes. By the time Rovers had 13 players on again, they were 24-20 down, which is how the game finished - punishing.
Jesse Sue and Whitbread had both gone in to make the tackle on Tyler Dupree - with Sue's initial contact causing Dupree to ricochet into Whitbread. After contact, Whitbread instantly turned round and jogged away, the body language of a player who was not expecting any repercussions, while there was no immediate reaction from the crowd or players around, but Dupree was then crouched down on the ground for a lengthy period - and Whitbread has subsequently had the book thrown at him by the match review panel too with the ban.
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Dupree was down for one minute and 15 seconds before raising to his feet, not injured. The replays of the contact showed Dupree leaning downwards - and Whitbread's right shoulder connecting with Dupree's right cheek. Referee Jack Smith then said: "you've made contact from shoulder to head, your only mitigation is the fact that there's a ricochet off the player, which has saved you - it's ten minutes in the bin". Whitbread, shaking his head, then walked off. Dupree carried on with no head injury assessment.
It is an incident that has sparked controversy; interventions of video referees aside from on-field officials, and the need for deterrents for players potentially play-acting, among the hot topics. And there are grey areas; for an outside observer, it is difficult to know for sure when a player is hurt or not, and when a player has been coached to stay down. It cannot help the spectacle though if there is too much video referee involvement and too many cards.
Regardless of all that, the issue for them now is being without Whitbread on the pitch - not the first time it has happened recently because of the decision in Wigan. But, perhaps, it is fair to argue that the removal of him for those pivotal 10 minutes was punishment enough.
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