Rival clubs would have “bad taste” if London weren’t relegated, says Tony Smith

Drew Darbyshire 14 Sep 2019 1:07 PM

Hull KR coach Tony Smith has hinted that clubs in the relegation battle would have felt sour if London managed to stay up.

Second-bottom Hull KR survived the drop on Friday night as London lost at Wakefield, with the Broncos going down to the Championship on points difference.

Smith revealed he would have had a “bad taste” in his mouth if his side had suffered relegation, considering St Helens fielded weakened teams against London in two games earlier this year, which the Broncos won.

Speaking after their 17-16 defeat at Salford on Friday, Smith said: “We survived off our own accord, we didn’t face any team that didn’t put a full strength team out against us this season.

“I said some weeks ago that if somebody went down other than the team that benefited from St Helens putting out two weakened teams, then I think there would have been a bad taste whether it would have been us, Huddersfield or Wakefield.

“It would have left a really bad taste in someone’s mouth that you are able to do that. I also want to mention that if Wakefield weren’t in the position they were in on the night then they could have maybe not had their best performance and that’s wrong.

“It’s wrong that you can manipulate who stays in and who doesn’t stay in. It’s a dangerous system that we have, some people like it, some find it exciting and some find it interesting but I don’t. I can’t wait for the day we are all talking about what is going on at the top of the competition.”