St Helens duo Sione Mata’utia and Morgan Knowles banned by disciplinary panel

Saints have been hit by a double whammy - two of their first team regulars have been banned by the RL Disciplinary match review panel on Monday.

Sione Mata’utia has picked up a three-match ban which means he will miss the fixtures against Wakefield Trinity, Salford Red Devils and Castleford Tiger, while loose forward Morgan Knowles will be absent for this weekend’s game in West Yorkshire.

Both incidents occurred in Friday night’s home encounter against Huddersfield Giants. Samoan international Mata’utia was sent off as early as the 16th minute due to what the panel described as ‘lifting an injured opponent contrary to the spirit of the game.’

Knowles’ one match suspension was implemented after a  late hit, while three other team-mates, Jack Welsby (alleged dangerous contact), Joey Lussick (alleged foul play in tackle) and Curtis Sironen (alleged high tackle) were  all cleared to play in Sunday’s trip to Belle Vue.

Mata’utia, who had successfully overturned a one-match ban for a high tackle to keep his place in the team, was given his marching orders by referee Chris Kendall for lifting Giants hooker Danny Levi as he lay injured on the ground.

In his post-match comments Saints boss Kristian Woolf said: “I understand where we’re going there but we’ve not quite got it right. It’s not even a high shot to start with. Blokes are lying on the ground trying to milk penalties and we’re reacting or over-reacting to that. We’ve just got to get these decisions right.”