Gary Thornton has told his Hunslet players not to backchat referees.
Thornton felt his team’s discipline was “poor” during their 32-18 win over Gloucestershire All Golds in the Kingstone Press League One Shield.
George Flanagan was sin-binned for dissent and Thornton said: “We got disappointed with a few calls and let it get to us. We gave a couple of penalties away for verbally abusing the referee and that’s not acceptable. We have got to be better than that and not let frustration get to us.”
Hunslet remain top of the Shield table – and in pole position for home advantage in the competition final – and Thornton added: “We played well for 30 minutes. The first-half performance wasn’t great, but in this group teams tend to live with you for 40 minutes and then fall away a bit and it has been a similar pattern in all our games so far. We do score some good tries, but we let some soft ones in so we have got a bit of work to do defensively.”
Hunslet have no game this weekend and Thornton said: “It will be good to regroup for the final run-in.”
Recent recruit Dean Roberts will be assessed after suffering concussion following his try in the second half.
“He played well, I have been pleased with him,” Thornton said of the second-rower who was signed after a spell on trial with York.
Article courtesy of Yorkshire Evening Post
