Rugby league has never really had a time, since 1895, where no-one knew or cared what was going on at its cultural centres. Its frontiers were never far enough away from the north of England or Sydney that events there were of no consequence. People in France looked to England, those in south Auckland across the Tasman. Now, the Anzac Test was on the screen at the Brazen Head pub in Liberty Village before Saturday's game but you can bet a straw poll on who it was in the green jumper walking onto Canberra Stadium with his kids would have brought responses that made David Smith look like David Middleton. Yet the line from the merch store across the road from the stadium snaked down the street. The crowd at the basic, uncovered stadium doubled between kick-off and half-time. The success of the first home game, against part-time Oxford, was organic and spontaneous. And we even had one of the sport's most storied traditions – a post-match war of words. Wolfpack forward Jake Emmitt punched an opponent after being sent to the sin bin for a professional foul late on, halfback Blake Wallace followed him for joining the melee. Oxford's Callum Windley was also dismissed.

When Emmitt's yellow card was changed to red, he made matters worse by sarcastically applauding the referee, Brandon Robinson. Team-mate Sean Penkywicz was later given 10 for dissent. While admitting his men should not have responded to provocation, Wolfpack coach Paul Rowley still laid much of the blame for the ugly end to the historic clash at the feet of Robinson and the opposition. "They were a terribly grubby, awful team to play against," said Rowley. "They shouldn't have reacted but I will say: you only get punched so many times before you react. We're not soft. We're not mugs. I would expect my players to protect ourselves. If the officials can't protect us, we'll do it ourselves. "I think the incidents were a build-up of lack of control throughout the game. Our boys at half-time were frustrated. I had to pick them up because of the way the game was becoming out of control.

"We had several players hit late. That's what you get when you mix amateurs with pros. That will happen most weeks unless we get better protection and better officiating. I thought that was really poor today. "When you've got the opposition coach entering the field and giving it to your players as well, I guess it starts at the top and it just about summed them up, really. "It just ruins the game. The correct manner to deal with it is [for officials] to deal with the perpetrators from the off and that wasn't done today in my opinion but we should be better, definitely." Even club CEO Eric Perez chimed in, saying: "The team we played against, it didn't look like they were here to play rugby. It looked like they were here to start a fight. "The boys showed a lot of control throughout the game but in the end if the referee doesn't take control, it's going to blow up."

Asked about allegations he entered the field to sledge Wolfpack players, Oxford coach Tim Rumford told Discord: "I'd respect Paul [Rowley] came to me and spoke to me about that. "I did notice Paul was on the halfway line talking to the third official a lot. I was asked to stay in my technical area and unfortunately I didn't know where that was because it's not marked out here. "Did I have a foot on the field? I don't know. I did have a reaction when I saw one of my young men, who I've known since he was 13 years old and who I coached through scholarship, get viciously, physically attacked, unprovoked, by a bloke six, seven, 10 kilos heavier than him. It was like watching a heavyweight throw punches at a schoolboy. "I don't mind a fair fight but that was out of line." Responding to the other comments from the Wolfpack camp, Rumford said: "The level of arrogance is indicated by the fact the away coach wasn't even given a presser.

"Our average age is 22 years of age. I was never going to put my players in a position where I thought they would roll over and get bullied. "I told my players not to allow themselves to be subjected to anything that could put them in a compromising position. I think my players stood up for themselves. The band of brothers who took the field refused to take a backward step. "When my blokes wouldn't roll over, an element of frustration kicked in to the favourites. That's what caused it and also some questionable officiating also contributed. "Jake [Emmitt] will probably have a look at what happened and admit he did wrong there." Rumford said his side was down to two interchange players in the second half of the game due to injury.