CLARET may have been flowing from the cuts but Michael Monaghan saw the funny side of his first-half clash of heads with teammate Ben Harrison in Warrington Wolves' clash with Huddersfield Giants on Sunday.

"You call it a clash of heads, but with the size of his head and the size of mine there was only ever going to be one winner," said the plucky scrum half, who had eight stitches in his cut before returning to the field whereas Harrison needed six stitches but took no further part in the game.

Monaghan, happy to banter, felt it said a lot about half backs compared to forwards.

"I really don't understand it. He's got a head like a water melon but he didn't come back on the pitch and I did.

"I would have backed his head against anyone's.

"The irony is pretty funny, actually.

"I give it to him every day about the size of his head and he's ended up splitting me."

Monagahan was stitched up at half time and got back into the action eight minutes into the second half, having spent 16 minutes on the sidelines.

"I tried to stay out there as long as possible but the cut kept getting bigger so over the half-time break it was stitched up to get me back out there.

"It was a game I really wanted to continue being a part of."

And the reason why Harrison did not figure again?

Wolves' head of coaching and rugby, Tony Smith, said: "We tried to patch him up as best we could but Ben was still seeing a few stars for a while."