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St Helens coach Nathan Brown was furious about a "disgraceful" tackle which saw half-back Gareth O'Brien carried off on a stretcher in a 26-6 win at Catalan Dragons.

O'Brien, on loan from Warrington, was taken out by a high challenge from Zeb Taia, who was put on report.

"I thought it was nothing short of disgraceful," said Brown.

"If one of my own players did it, I'd expect them to be sent off and then be suspended for a long period of time."

Brown was forceful in his belief that a heavier punishment should have been meted out to the Catalans forward and has called on the Rugby Football League to give players better protection.

"I find it absolutely downright rude and disgraceful that they don't protect the players in the game, in particular the small ones, who are the key players," he said.

"Are we going to wait until some kid gets a broken neck or a broken jaw before the RFL act on it?"

Dragons coach Laurent Frayssinous said he expected the authorities to punish Taia as they see fit.

"I will have to look at it again, but at the end of the day if it is a shoulder to the head then I'm sure the RFL will give a punishment," he said.

"I'm on the same page as Nathan, but I don't want us to cop a ban now and the others over previous weeks haven't copped it."