Wigan coach Adrian Lam says skipper taken to hospital after being struck in face at end of Super League game
Thursday 13 February 2020 23:19, UK
Sean O'Loughlin was taken to hospital after sustaining an eye injury in his 400th Super League match.
The Wigan Warriors captain was set to mark his landmark appearance with a try until being struck in the face with the flailing arm of Toronto Wolfpack's Hakim Miloudi six minutes from the end of the game at the DW Stadium, which his side won 32-10.
French centre Miloudi was sin-binned by referee Chris Kendall, while O'Loughlin was helped from the field.
"He's not good," said Warriors coach Adrian Lam. "It doesn't look good, his eye.
"He's on his way to hospital. He's walking but he can't see out of it, so it's a concern."
Toronto head coach Brian McDermott is hoping Miloudi will not face any further disciplinary action from the incident and insisted there was no malicious intent from his player.
"I thought it was a harsh yellow card," McDermott said. "He was defending his try-line and poked him in the eye, but it was a fingernail. Hopefully nothing will come of it."
Any suspension could be costly for McDermott, who had just 17 players available from his 23-man squad by kick-off time.
Already without Sonny Bill Williams after the former All Black flew back to New Zealand for the birth of his fourth child, McDermott was forced to make a late change after former St Helens loose forward Jon Wilkin pulled out after the warm-up with a knee problem.
Toronto 18th man Gary Wheeler was drafted on to the bench and their problems worsened when James Cunningham, who had been promoted to the starting line-up in place of Wilkin, limped off after only six minutes.
The Canadian club were also without stand-off Joe Mellor, who broke a bone in his hand in the previous game, and they lost prop Gadwin Springer with concussion during the match to leave McDermott with potentially a major headache as the Wolfpack prepare to face Warrington Wolves and reigning champions St Helens in their next two matches.
"Jon Wilkin's knee locked," McDermott said. "He couldn't straighten it and then we lost James Cunningham in the first few sets so we were on the back foot from the start.
"It was a bit of a challenge but since round one we've improved and tonight we improved again. We are adding elements to our game every week. I thought we were good for a win for a fair while."
