COACH Paul Rowley has declined to defend St Helens against the claims of Wigan’s Matt Peet that the club has “lost their identity”.
Pete made the comment on television after the Warriors’ Challenge Cup victory over Saints last week – with reference to the use of loan players – and tonight Rowley was given his opportunity to respond following the win against Huddersfield.
“Yeah I’ve got no reaction,” Rowley said on Sky following a 26-18 win that followed his side leading 24-0 at halftime.
Pressed further, Rowley said: “Like I said, no reaction.”
Rowley was more vocal about the number of stoppages in the second half and the contentious way in which captain’s challenges and try reviews are applied in the UK.
“There’s so many stoppages, long stoppages as well that seem unnecessarily long at times.
“There’s captain’s challenges, video referee decisions, that sort of stuff. We contributed to some of that with our … allowing for chaos, some of the stuff we dished out.
“But the stop-start nature, then you lose concentration, then it becomes unattractive for everyone to watch and I guess to play in as well.
“So yeah, an ugly second half for more reasons than one.”
Man of the match Jackson Hastings said: “It was a dire second half.
“It would have been hard to watch for a neutral with so many stoppages and teams challenging.
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