TUNNEL VISION

Hull director Myler blames ‘miscommunication’ for bust-up with Burgess

HULL director of rugby Richie Myler is confused why Sam Burgess got so “heated” during their recent spat.

The former England team-mates were filmed having a tunnel bust-up after Friday’s Super League clash.

Footage showed Warrington coach Burgess barging past Myler following his side’s 24-6 win. The hosts were reduced to seven interchanges after Adam Holroyd was named on the bench, having not been included in the 21-man squad list sent to the RFL earlier in the week.

Burgess was fuming because the forward had been in the squad publicly released two days before and he argued losing an interchange was a player-welfare failure. The imposing ex-England captain claimed Hull complained, leading to him losing a substitution and, on his tunnel flare-up, said it was after Myler made a “smart comment”.

But Myler (above, right) said: “There was a miscommunication around the director of rugby role. Warrington believed a director of rugby could have a say over how many subs you could use. I politely asked the match commissioner ‘Was that my role?’. To which he said not. Sam took offence because I was saying ‘no’. But there are no hard feelings from me. I know I’m new to this role, but I don’t think it’s my position to rewrite the RFL rules.”

Myler, who took over struggling Hull three weeks ago and is still looking for a new head coach, was left baffled.

He said: “I wasn’t even the one who flagged up they’d named somebody in the squad that wasn’t. I just got approached by the match commissioner and then by Sam, who was very heated and animated before the game. I just said I have no idea what you are on about. I understand what he’s saying about player welfare and asking them to go down from eight subs. But that’s a bigger conversation that’s above my role.”

■ Hull have signed France utility forward Tiaki Chan, 23, on a shortterm agreement from Wigan. Huddersfield second-row Sam Hewitt, 25, has signed a new three-year deal.