Major Ricky Leutele decision reached as Leigh Leopards centre discovers disciplinary fate

Leigh Leopards centre Ricky Leutele will be available for their huge play-off clash at Salford on Friday after he avoided a suspension for the tackle which saw him sin-binned against St Helens, Love Rugby League can reveal.

Leutele was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Saints fullback Jack Welsby. It left Leopards coach Adrian Lam furious post-match, insisting that the decision was the incorrect one, with Paul Wellens’ side scoring twice when Leutele was off the field.

However, Leigh emerged victorious in the end to book their place in the Super League play-offs – and they will have Leutele available for the game at the Salford Community Stadium this weekend.

Love Rugby League has learned that Leutele has escaped a charge for the incident with Welsby and has been freed to feature for the Leopards this weekend.

It is a major boost for Leigh, who have one of their key strike outside backs available for their biggest game of the season.

Lam insisted post-match on Friday that he was ‘really frustrated’ with the decision to show Leutele a yellow card and warned that a decision of that magnitude could end up deciding a major match if the sport isn’t careful.

He said: “I was really frustrated with the sin-bin. Whoever’s up in that box making that decision isn’t on the same page as everyone else.

“I’ve looked at that 100 times and there’s no way, in the world, should a player be sin-binned for a tackle lower than shoulder height. It’s unacceptable, it’s going to cost someone a Grand Final at some point. Two tries were scored tonight while that player was off.

“I don’t know what we need to do, but that can’t happen again.”

But Leigh have been at least handed a boost this week after learning that the Match Review Panel opted not to charge the centre.

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