Wigan face an investigation from the Rugby Football League over the furore surrounding the Super League champions’ match against Widnes, which was postponed only hours before the match was to be played.
Wigan released a statement on Thursday night that said the match, five days on from their World Club Challenge victory against Cronulla, had been postponed owing to the DW Stadium pitch being unable to support two games in 24 hours. Co-tenants Wigan Athletic are set to play Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon.
“With the weather over the last day resulting in intermittent standing water on the pitch and the further forecasted bad weather over the next 24 hours, the DW Stadium pitch simply cannot sustain two games this weekend,” Ian Lenagan, the Wigan chairman, said. “With Wigan Athletic’s season at such a critical stage and after detailed discussions between myself and the Wigan Athletic chairman, David Sharpe, it was agreed they need to play this fixture more than we need to play ours.”
It is understood Wigan did not consult with the RFL or Widnes over the decision to postpone the game, which Wigan won 28-26, and the governing body has launched an investigation into Wigan’s handling of the process. “The RFL can confirm Widnes and Wigan have reached an agreement to play their Super League round two fixture tonight [Friday 24 February] at the Select Security Stadium in Widnes,” a statement read. “The clubs have agreed that this will become a Widnes home fixture and the corresponding fixture in round 20 in July will be at the DW Stadium in Wigan. Separately, the RFL can confirm it will investigate the circumstances surrounding the postponement of the game by Wigan and any potential breach of operational rules.”
Clubs do not have the power or authority to postpone fixtures without consultation with the RFL. Only when a ground safety officer or an authorised match commissioner has arrived at a stadium to agree with a club’s decision can a match be called off.
Widnes were equally frustrated with the situation and it is understood they demanded the match take place this weekend as opposed to being rearranged for later in the season. That would have left them playing two games within three or four days in a season where two double-header weekends are already pencilled in.
Yet following emergency discussions between the clubs on Friday morning, which were monitored by senior officials at the RFL, the decision was reached to switch the game to Widnes’s all-weather pitch at the Select Security Stadium.
Wigan recovered from a 14-point deficit to beat Widnes, who led 26-12 after an hour thanks to tries from Lloyd White, Danny Craven, Tom Armstrong and Stefan Marsh. But the visitors hit back with two tries from Joe Burgess, another from Lewis Tierney and a late winner from Oliver Gildart, his second of the night.
“I just coach the team to play – and we got a win,” said Warriors coach Shaun Wane. “That is all I am concerned about.” Vikings coach Denis Betts did not blame the disruption for his side’s defeat. “There are no excuses,” he said. “It is a bizarre situation. We came in this morning not knowing what was going on. The game was put on at 11 o’clock and the club has done fantastically well at such short notice. But I couldn’t control it. I don’t waste energy thinking about it. I had nothing to do with it.”
Salford coach Ian Watson was left seething by the decision to award Leeds a late try in their 20-14 defeat at Headingley. They could sense a famous win after Logan Tomkins’ converted try levelled the scores at 14-14 with 10 minutes left. For all their efforts in a hard-fought game Salford left with nothing after Leeds replacement Liam Sutcliffe raced clear to score three minutes from time.
Referee Chris Campbell ignored loud calls for a forward pass in the build-up to Sutcliffe’s try, a decision which Watson felt summed up a poor performance by the officials. “I don’t know how two touch judges and a referee can miss it,” said Watson. “It’s a bad call and it’s cost us dearly.”
Elsewhere in Super League, Castleford beat Warrington 30-22, Leigh beat St Helens 24-16 and Huddersfield beat Wakefield 24-16.
