Luke Gale was sent off on his home Hull FC debut for a dangerous challenge on Jonny Lomax; St Helens boss Kristian Woolf: "We've brought in lots of rules to protect our kickers and that was a bit of an ugly situation. Action had to be taken."
Saturday 19 February 2022 16:50, UK
St Helens coach Kristian Woolf said Luke Gale warranted punishment for his dangerous challenge on Jonny Lomax as the Hull FC half-back was dismissed on his home debut.
Saints were already leading 14-0 when Gale was red-carded for catching Lomax on the knee with his studs after the Saints stand-off had kicked the ball.
The Betfred Super League champions capitalised, battling their way through a snowstorm at the MKM Stadium to claim a 38-6 victory.
"Something had to happen there," replied Woolf when asked about Gale's dismissal. "I'm not quite sure what but you can't jump out at the kicker.
"We've brought in lots of rules to protect our kickers and that was a bit of an ugly situation. Action had to be taken."
It was the fourth red card nine matches into the new season and referee Chris Kendall also issued a yellow to Hull centre Connor Wynne for a dangerous tackle on Jack Welsby.
Hull head coach Brett Hodgson said Wynne was harshly treated but reserved his judgement on Gale.
"I had limited footage," he said. "His foot went out but I don't know how much contact there was and I don't want to suggest otherwise until I see some clear vision.
"It's hugely frustrating, you just want consistency and the message to be the same in every game every week.
"With Connor Wynne, the player literally jumped and put his own head into the ground and they sent him off for a yellow card. I think it was very harshly dealt with."
Woolf, meanwhile, lauded his players for overcoming horrendous weather conditions to maintain an impressive start to their Super League title defence.
"It was freezing cold and some of our blokes at half-time were shivering," said Woolf.
"I thought we still played some good footy in the conditions so I'm really happy overall. I thought we handled it really well.
"Our blokes approached the game really well from the start and I thought we were very much on top before the sending-off."
England centre Mark Percival scored his 100th try for the club and winger Josh Simm touched down twice before half-time as Saints romped to a 12th win in a row over the Black and Whites.
The 20-year-old Simm, who got his chance after Will Hopoate failed to recover from a rib injury, might have had a hat-trick after having one try disallowed for a forward pass.
"He got his opportunity and he took it," Woolf said. "He had a really good pre-season - his conditioning is the best I've seen it - and I thought he did a great job. He looked really comfortable out there."
Hodgson admitted his Hull players were given a harsh lesson by Saints.
"I'm super proud of the effort of my players, who kept working as hard as they could," he said.
"But when you lose your half-back, you're lost for options a little bit. There were some disappointing moments out there, some our own doing but some that were not necessarily in our control.
"What I would say as well is that St Helens were the better team. We tried hard but were just not good enough."
