'Maybe four but at least three of them were deserved': Nigel Owens reviews the five Six Nations red cards and hands out end-of-tournament awards
Centurion Test referee Nigel Owens has delivered his verdict on the red mist that clouded the recent Guinness Six Nations, claiming that maybe four of the five red cards were deserved while also doling out various awards for the best haircut, the best celebration and so on.
Welsh official Owens has stepped back from the international arena having taken charge of his 100th Test match during last November’s Autumn Nations Cup. It left him watching the Six Nations unfold from the sidelines and the latest edition of his Whistle Watch video series in association with World Rugby had seen him review the glut of championship reds.
“Let’s get into some of the talking points from last week, the Finn Russell red card. What you can’t do as a ball carrier is you can’t lead with a forearm and raise it up into a player because if you raise a forearm and you make contact with the head or the neck directly then that will result in a red card,” he said.
“Now my humble opinion is Finn Russell was maybe a little bit unlucky here. The French player tackles Finn Russell upright which means Finn Russell, the dynamics of his handoff had to change. He has to lift his hand up to try and fend off the would-be tackler. In doing this he then gets the timing of it wrong.”
Russell’s red card was one of five across the 15-match championship, resulting in a total of 16-game bans – Peter O’Mahony three, Zander Fagerson four, Bundee Aki four, Paul Willemse two and Russell three.
ICYMI: Ahead of Friday's game at Gloucester, @SkeltonWilliam spoke w/ @heagneyl ??? on:
Leaving @Saracens
Life at @staderochelais
Size 19 boots ?
Tackle height & 'big boys having no excuse'
His battle with diet ???
Best & worse Sarries COD players ? https://t.co/Bjdo9coewW— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 1, 2021
Owens hopes the message this collective punishment has sent out will improve the sport for everyone who plays it, not just at Test level. “This year’s Six Nations will be very memorable for us here in Wales but this year’s Six Nations will also be remembered for the most amount of red cards in the Guinness Six Nations tournament and I have to say that at least three of them, maybe four but at least three of them were correct decisions and deserved red cards.
“Now for the good of the game, for the future of the game and for player safety and all concerned from the very, very top at international level all the way down to our local grassroots community game, it’s important that we deal with acts of foul play that warrant red cards. Hopefully, it will do some good and will help change player behaviour on the field.”
Switching to a more jovial perspective, Owens handed out a series of novel awards. “Here we go, the best lid, the best haircut? Ellis Genge, Hamish Watson, Jonny Hill. Tough one to choose so I’ll leave you to decide that one. Let me know who you think had the best lid.
“Best no try? Louis Rees-Zammit (vs France) for sure. Best referee ruck performance? Romain Poite, without a doubt. Head first into the ruck (Scotland vs Ireland). Best celebration? It has got to be Stuart Hogg in Paris on the weekend plus it also meant that the whole of Wales was celebrating as well.”
Price paid after two red cards and a citing #GallagherPremhttps://t.co/PB4pTXDjbk
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 1, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
2 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments