Kilshaw critical of officials

HORNETS head coach Alan Kilshaw has branded his side’s penalty count ‘ridiculous’ following their 28-8 loss to London Broncos at Trailfinders Sports Club.

The Hornets had 13 penalties go against them, to the Broncos’ five – a statistic which Kilshaw saw as pivotal to the result.

The Hornets led 8-6 at half time thanks to two tries from Rob Massam, though they were unable to convert any chances in a second period which saw the home side score 20 unanswered points and take the win.

“We’re an easy team to penalise because we’re Rochdale,” Kilshaw said.

“We’re a little team in people’s eyes and we’re getting penalised to death – the penalty count was ridiculous.

“You can look at it as a discipline problem and yeah we may have to tidy up in some areas. But there were a lot of high shots on my players today that went unnoticed.

“There was one moment were Danny Yates broke through and he’s had his head taken off and we didn’t get a penalty.

“Then Gaz [Bennion] gets hit late off the ball and in the very next set London got a penalty and try to play the ball before he was held and they got the penalty – that just summed it up for me.

“Some of the decisions were absolutely dumbfounding today – it’s not just the referee – it’s the two touch judges as well.”

The loss leaves the Hornets sixth in the Kingstone Press Championship with a tough game against Toulouse Olympique XIII next up, while the Broncos climbed into fourth.

“I’ll speak to the refs coach in the week and he’ll tell me what I’ve said is right,” Kilshaw continued.

“But we’re going to walk away from here without the two points and it had a massive effect on us.”