St Helens chairman McManus blasted by Lance Hohaia

Omnisports

April 30, 2015 12:25 AM

The war of words between Lance Hohaia and St Helens has intensified after the former New Zealand back took aim at the management at Langtree Park.

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Saints chairman Eamonn McManus reacted angrily to Hohaia's claims he had been poorly treated in the aftermath of a Super League Grand Final assault at the hands of Wigan's Ben Flower, which preceded the 32-year-old's retirement from rugby league due to "recurrent post-match concussion-type symptoms".

McManus suggested Hohaia may not have been as seriously injured as first thought, as he earned a business degree, and stood up for his medical team.

However, Hohaia has no qualms with any of the staff who treated him after being punched twice in the face by Flower, pointing the finger squarely at McManus himself.

Hohaia told BBC Sport it was "embarrassing" that McManus "would try to draw a correlation between my mental state and my university marks".

He added: "I was provided with an outstanding tutor that I worked with weekly to help me with my assignments and did not sit the final exam due to my mental state.

"I was awarded an aggregated score on my final exam based on my previous assignments out of compassion, which allowed me to pass."

He added: "The lack of support that I felt was from management and was in reference specifically to how my retirement and the subsequent time after was handled, not how I was treated after the Grand Final incident.

"Eamonn has taken my wider statement about the club not supporting me as an attack against the entire club and the team, which is simply not the case."

Omnisports

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