Trinity boss Chester has no complaints
match commissioner made the right call.
“We weren’t expecting that amount of snow to all of a sudden come in.
“I’ve never seen weather like that before so it was the right decision to call it off. “
Rugby Football League match commissioner David Milburn said: “The pitch was playable, the ground was soft, no players were injured or fell over so I feel justified that I made the right decision.
“I said to the referee if it gets to a position where you cannot see, bring the players off which is what he did and that was also the right decision.
“We couldn’t see the players and the medical staff couldn’t see the players, it was in their best interests that we brought them all off.”
The outcome was tough on Carter, who rolled up his sleeves to clear the lines before kick-off with assistance from the groundsman and other staff.
“We all chip in here,” Carter said. “The community staff and volunteers were out there.
“We did it two weeks ago when we played Huddersfield, we all muck in.
“It’s how it’s always been at Wakefield, there were plenty of people out there volunteering to take the shovel off me. It’s a great team effort.
“We tried to get the game on and it didn’t work out. I’ve no qualms with the match commissioner or the referee. We tried our best and we’ve been beaten by the weather.
“We wanted the game on because it’s difficult to get a game fitted in with the schedule we’ve got.”
Chester added: “We are probably going to have to have a midweek game.
“A lot will depend on the Challenge Cup and also whether we can do anything in the international break, which ideally we don’t want to because Tom Johnstone is involved in that game.”
Castleford held a 10am pitch inspection for their Super League game with Wigan only for the game to fall foul. A short drive away, York’s game with Swinton – being played at Featherstone – went ahead.
Castleford’s safety officer Ian Crawford said: “Postponing a game is never an option we take lightly and I must give praise to our groundsman Stuart Vause who really has worked so hard over the past week.
“The sheer volume of rainfall we had before the snow and sub-zero temperatures overnight have left us with a frozen pitch and frozen terraces.”
The Challenge Cup matches at North Wales, Coventry, Halifax and Hunslet Hawks were all postponed yesterday.
Hunslet Parkside 14 Thatto Heath 10, Siddal 16 Rochdale Mayfield 14, Wath Brow Hornets 28 Underbank Rangers 14, Wigan St Patricks 16 Egremont Rangers 44
Crusaders v Featherstone Rovers - postponed, Barrow 28 Sheffield Eagles 16, Batley Bulldogs 4 Leigh Centurions 8, Whitehaven 25 Dewsbury Rams 18, Workington 20 London Broncos 22, York 26 Swinton 12, Coventry v Pilkingtons – postponed, Halifax v Oldham – postponed, Hunslet v Bradford Bulls – postponed WARRINGTON secured their third win of the season in the Betfred Super League by beating Catalans Dragons 26-0 in rain-sodden Perpignan.
Ben Murdoch-Masila scored twice but Kevin Brown ran the show for the Wolves, having a hand in three of the Wolves’ five tries in an error-strewn game.
Catalans were hoping to win back-toback games at home for the first time in almost two years following their victory over Hull KR last weekend, while Warrington headed to the south of France on the back of defeat to St Helens.
Warrington were without Ryan Atkins who did not travel while Catalans had to shuffle their side as they were without the suspended Jason Baitieri, Iain Thornley coming into the side in the centres with Brayden Wiliame moving into the second row.
The visitors started on the front foot, forcing two goal-line drop-outs in the opening three minutes, and that pressure soon told on the Catalans defence.
Kevin Brown, Tyrone Roberts and Stefan Ratchford combined to send the ball to the right and Toby King sent Mitch Brown over in the right corner. Roberts missed the conversion from the touchline.
Warrington edged further ahead in the 18th minute with Daryl Clark darting over to the left of the posts from acting half after Chris Hill had gone within a metre of the Catalans line. Bryson Goodwin this time did convert the try and extended the Warrington lead to 10 points.
The Dragons were in disarray and Warrington took full advantage, extending their lead further in the 26th minute. Kevin Brown’s chip to the right edge was knocked back by Mitch Brown and into the hands of Murdoch-Masila who collected and touched down 10 metres in from the right corner. Goodwin missed the conversion.
Both teams were reduced to 12 men by the interval as Fouad Yaha and Tom Lineham were sent to the sin-bin shortly before the break for fighting.
Shortly after the resumption, Murdoch-Masila added his second try, latching on to Kevin Brown’s short pass to score to the right of the posts. Goodwin added the extras to put Warrington 20-0 clear.
Greg Bird thought he had brought Catalans back into the game in the 53rd minute, but the video referee ruled out his try claim for an earlier obstruction by Benjamin Garcia.
Rain continued to fall, gradually becoming heavier throughout the game and affecting the quality of handling from both sides in attacking positions.
A messy last quarter saw the Catalans show more of a threat but without finding an end product, and it meant they failed to register a point at home for the first time in their Super League history.