Exeter break their silence on the Jack Nowell misconduct charge
Rob Baxter has opened up about the Tuesday afternoon revelation that Jack Nowell will face a misconduct hearing on Wednesday evening after he posted to his Twitter account his thoughts on last Sunday’s red card decision involving Olly Woodburn. Nowell didn’t play in last Sunday’s 62-19 defeat for Exeter at Leicester in the Gallagher Premiership.
However, after seeing referee Karl Dickson adjudge Woodburn to have committed a yellow card offence when he slid into Chris Ashton after the Leicester player dived for the try line while tackled by Stuart Hogg, Nowell and two Exeter teammates who were also not involved in the game – fellow England internationals Luke Cowan-Dickie and Henry Slade – vented their feelings when a penalty try was awarded and Woodburn was sent off for a second yellow card.
Cowan-Dickie tweeted that “rugby had lost the plot” and Slade said “I have no words”, while Nowell added in a since-deleted tweet: “I’m actually in shock, like shock shocked. What the hell is happening? That’s one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen. EVER”.
English Rugby HQ took umbrage with what Nowell posted to his 61,000-plus followers and he now has a case to answer following a charge of conduct prejudicial to the interests of the union and the game under RFU rule 5.12.
Ahead of the Nowell disciplinary hearing and before a separate hearing verdict revealed that the red card punishment was sufficient for Woodburn and that he was now free to play in this weekend’s league game at home to Bristol, Exeter boss Baxter spoke at his midweek media conference on Wednesday morning about the Nowell tweet and the Woodburn sending off.
Asked if he had to remind his Exeter players about their use of social media, Baxter admitted: “Well, yes, for obvious reasons with Jack’s citing. It didn’t come through until yesterday [Tuesday] for us, so it was coming through as I was getting ready for a players’ meeting and I just mentioned to them, ‘Look guys, just be careful. You know you have got to be really careful on these things’. That is all we can really say.
“Jack hasn’t done it with any intention of it being directed at the referee at all. At the end of the day, all he was talking about was the decision. It hasn’t been directed at Karl Dickson, it’s kind of directed at the game. That is where Jack has got it slightly wrong, but it has been done in a frustration at the laws of the game more than the referee.
“You have got to (understand players in that scenario). This is not me saying that a player saying anything about a referee is fine. I’m not fine about that at all. We have a great reputation among the refereeing body. I have asked both Tony Spreadbury and Paul Hull if there are any issues with our players at any stage.
“All the feedback I get is that the referees enjoy refereeing the players, they never have any issues with them. We work very hard on that side of things. We expect to have a good working relationship with them. I make sure regardless of results all the referees would say I treat them very similarly after a game and make sure I shake their hand coming off the pitch. I don’t go after them on TV around contentious decisions.”
Baxter added: “As a club, I would like to think we have got a very good reputation but that is different to the game being questioned. I have said it myself as well. We are really one of the only games in the world that almost tries and makes the sanctions for things being the removal of numbers off the field. That is bound to cause frustration.
“People need to be aware it is good to have a debate on these things. I know for a fact there is going to be some debate around the Olly Woodburn situation because even refereeing departments higher up the chain are concerned with how you referee that scenario; how do you referee it when it is so different there to anywhere else on the field? So, they are worth debating without any doubt.
“What you have to do is avoid the frustration which happened with Jack. Like I said, he has not gone after the referee at all. He was the captain when we played Bath and Karl Dickson was refereeing and the relationship was fine. There is nothing there. There is no malice intended at all.
“But I can understand the frustration with how a decision however technically correct it may be, surely it has got to be a frustration for all of us who have watched rugby for a long time that that scenario, Olly is just being a desperate, very good, flat-out rugby player trying to make something happen at the end.
“He is not intentionally doing anything illegal, he doesn’t hurt anybody, there is no head contact. He is doing everything he can to remain legal really but it’s an impossible situation to make a tackle. How does he influence that scenario? Well, he should be able to and yet he can’t, not legally, and we should debate that. There is nothing wrong with that and we should look at it.
“That is an entirely different thing to saying why we can’t talk about things in the game. It’s just like I said things about where we stand now around red cards around head contact. Even World Rugby are talking about looking at that scenario to make sure that decisions are made correctly, and we don’t spend five minutes debating a red card in the field that may have mitigation. The referee doesn’t need to spend ages looking at that now… These things are worth debating and we should be talking about them to improve the game.”
Nowell, who starred for Exeter in their Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final win over the Stormers, missed the Leicester league trip due to injury but he is on the mend and hoping that a suspension won’t now scupper his availability for the April 30th semi-final versus La Rochelle in Bordeaux.
“Jack is starting to shake off the knee, which is really good, really positive because he has been a big influence. He has got his hearing tonight. We will have to see how things pan out there. He is up and running around now and available,” Baxter added.
Comments on RugbyPass
Probably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
198 Go to commentsWho hurt this man.. LoL 😭
198 Go to commentsIt unfortunate for the Jaguares that they became formidable just as super rugby as we knew came to an end. However, the idea of bringing them back is nonsensical. While I enjoyed the Jaguares and the South African flavour of the comp, a selling point of this incarnation of super rugby is that all games are on a decent time for an Aussie audience.
2 Go to commentslol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
198 Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
2 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
5 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
5 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
198 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
198 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
198 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
5 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
5 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
5 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
198 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to commentsClose games are what we want to see…. What a match it was…. I am sure that everyone was drained by the end of it. The reality of it all there has to be a winner and a loser. The fact that we still talking about it is almost 6 months to the day Rugby is the winner.. Asante sana… Here is to 2027 and what it will bring out.
198 Go to commentsIt’s going to be a good game. COYQ
1 Go to comments“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
157 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
198 Go to comments