Wigan Warriors • Re: Saints (a)

The comparison with Percival is obviously a relevant one given the two red cards.

This may be red-vee tinted specs but when I look at the Percival one, he gets into a very similar position to Byrne (i.e. he's not side on looking to smash with the shoulder, he's pretty front on with right arm low and out to his side). So I don't think either are looking to deliberately lead with the shoulder for starters.

I think he sees the ball going down and almost tries to pull out of the tackle rather than completing it, with the Salford player running into him and Percival ending up bumping backwards. I guess the MRP have considered that Byrne was fully committed to an illegal tackle whilst Percival could argue he tried to pull out of a tackle after a player dropped the ball - i.e. less deliberate force in the action?

Just my take and admit it could be absolute bobbins, but that's what I see when I slow the Percy tackle down.

Either way, I think we can all probably agree that the Byrne tackle is not what 4-match bans are for.