Warriors boost as Dragons trio banned

Greg Bird, Ben Garcia and Fouad Yaha have all been punished by the RFL’s disciplinary panel for charges relating to Saturday’s win against Leigh.

Richie Myler was also found guilty of tripping but he was cleared to play.

Garcia (grade C) and Bird (B) both admitted punching but challenged the grading. In both cases, the tribunal felt the grading was correct and imposed two and one game bans respectively.

Winger Yaha pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty of grade B running and punching and banned for one match. All three were fined £300 each.

Leeds-bound halfback Myler was found guilty of grade A tripping and fined £300.

Elsewhere, Leigh centre Ben Crooks admitted a grade B punching charge was banned for one game.

Wakefield chairman Michael Carter suggested the club will appeal after Reece Lyne was found guilty of grade C dangerous contact and banned for two games, and fined £300.

Jamie Acton’s disciplinary case has been deferred to next week after Leigh asked for more time to prepare for a hearing.

The prop has been charged with a severe Grade F offence for his actions in Saturday’s loss at Catalans.

An RFL statement said: “The chair accepted a request for an adjournment provided he did not play in any fixture prior to his case next week.”

Footage showed Acton grabbing opponent Bird as he lay sprawled on the floor after an apparent head clash.

He lifts him by his shirt, before appearing to shout at him then let his head drop back to the ground.

It was an incident which was repeated several times during the French TV coverage and later went viral on social media, creating headlines both here and in Australia where one news network described the incident as a “dog act”.

Though there was no penalty given at the time, the RFL match review highlighted Acton’s indiscretion and slapped a Grade F charge on the forward who has already missed several games this season through suspension.

Leigh owner Derek Beaumont tweeted his support of Acton on Sunday, stating: “Jamie Acton was backing his half back after a cheap shot on him. Bird told him as he picked him up to f*** off so he let him go.”

When challenged by someone else on Twitter, Beaumont responded: “Have you ever ramped a ball up mate and got physical width (sic) a tough customer like bird? When you have you will know the answer to ur question.”

Cory Paterson also copped some abused on Twitter after being wrongly identified as the culprit by the Sky Sports commentators.

League legend Garry Schofield said on Radio Yorkshire: “We don’t want it part of our game. The RFL should throw the book at him – for mine, it’s 12 months.”