Super League: Wigan Warriors boss Shaun Wane refuses to defend Ben Flower
Last Updated: 14/01/15 11:53am
Shaun Wane has refused to defend Ben Flower following his sending off after two minutes of Wigan Warriors’ Grand Final defeat to St Helens.
Flower was shown a straight red card inside the opening exchanges after retaliating against Saints playmaker, Lance Hohaia by punching him twice.
The dismissal left favourites Wigan with a massive uphill battle to climb, and, despite leading 6-2 at half time tries after the interval from Sia Soliola and Tommy Makinson gave Saints the victory.
Wane has conceded that Flower has been left ‘devastated’ by his actions and the Warriors boss says he also made mistakes in the Old Trafford showdown.
No defence
Wane commented: "I'm not going to try to (defend Flower). It's a red; he's punched him in the head and deserved to go.
"He's devastated. He's made a huge error today but we just move on, we're all in it together. I've made mistakes and he's made one today."
He added: "I'm really proud of the desire we showed to stick at it. We broke them time and time again and could have scored more tries.
"I thought we could have won the game and that was my mind-set (after the red card). It would have been a great victory for us.
"Keeping them to 14-6 with no Micky Mac (injured hooker Michael McIlorum) and Ben was a great effort but Saints were worthy winners."
