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Nigel Owens lauded for refusing to put up with loophole that's annoyed so many fans
Referee Nigel Owens has been widely praised for cracking down on Racing 92 for the practice of caterpillar rucking, the rugby craze that has infuriated many viewers over the course of the last 12 months.
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The tactic sees players form an elongated ruck ‘conga line’, one player holding on to next, shielding scrum-halves from the pressure of defending players by effectively seeing them kick freely from upwards of 10 metres from the defensive offside line.
Owens was not tolerating the practice today during Saracens and Racing 92 semi-final match in the La Defence Arena. Owens repeatedly called ‘use it’, most notably when awarding a 5-metre scrum to Saracens after twice warning Teddy Iribaren to ‘use’ the ball.
“He’s absolutely right,” noted BT’s Ben Kay. “It’s the first time I’ve seen that. It was the slowest ruck I have ever seen. The Racing fans won’t be happy but I think rugby fans will be happy.”
The use warning may be the best way to combat the technique, which has infuriated a lot of fans who see it as an abuse of rugby law. An egregious example of the caterpillar rucking technique was used by Exeter Chiefs in 2019.
The sooner this ludicrous loop hole gets taken out of the game the better. Looks ridiculous. @premrugby @btsportrugby pic.twitter.com/RRqmcUbFxh
— ????? ???????? (@MrChrisClarkson) November 3, 2019
A year later and Owens was widely praised online for refusing to tolerate it.
21 | Nigel Owens awards Sarries a scrum as Iribaren refuses to use the ball having been warned twice.
5m out from the Racing line, a big moment coming up.
? 3 ?? 0
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) September 26, 2020
Nigel Owens clamping down on go-slow caterpillar rucks will be hard to beat as a highlight of this Euro semi-final weekend. #useit
— Chris Foy (@FoyChris) September 26, 2020
Bravo @Nigelrefowens … at last a ref using the 5 sec law and the painfully slow caterpillar ruck gets pinged. ???
— Steve Speirs (@SteveSpeirs4) September 26, 2020
https://twitter.com/Sonjamclaughlan/status/1309833385855127554
Great reffing from Nigel Owens there. He asked the Racing No 9 to use it twice, they were too slow and he awarded a scrum to Sarries. About time refs started enforcing this, speed up play. #RACvSAR #ChampionsCup #goodreffing
— Graeme Peacock (@graemepeacock05) September 26, 2020
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At last, a turnover scrum awarded for not using the ball at the caterpillar ruck ? #RACvSAR
— Flish ?? (@andyflisher) September 26, 2020
You just love to see the “use it” call followed up on. Well done Nigel Owens.
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) September 26, 2020
One Twitter follower didn’t agree, posting: “Nigel Owens asks people to respect the Welsh language but as a member of The British Empire refuses to use a word of French in France so shouts out ‘use it’ in English to cheat and give SAR a 5m scrum.”
Owens replied in kind: “Seriously? You think any players don’t know what use it is? I look forward to you asking all refs to learn welsh, Italian, Fijian, South African, Spanish, Georgian, Russian, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic Tongan, Samoan Japanese. Now jog on”
Seriously? You think any players don’t know what use it is ? I look forward to you asking all refs to learn welsh, Italian, Fijian, South African, Spanish , Georgian, Russian, Irish Gaelic , Scottish Gaelic Tongan, Samoan Japanese . Now jog on
— Nigel Owens MBE (@Nigelrefowens) September 26, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Why would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
151 Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
36 Go to commentsGoode is a Prop that played Flyhalf…. Who gives a Sh@#t what he thinks anyway!
151 Go to commentsOne would hope when a player of such caliber is approached for transfer is traversed a lot more carefully. The question I ask, “is the players agent raising red flags in the first instance of contact”. By what I read assumptions are made by nzr based on player welfare provided to them. So what is that? Is it a wholistic approach where family balance is taken into account. Because thay’s what’s in the mix when players go off shore. I realize the money is a huge factor but when negotiations are initiated is nzr involved. As Lendrum says having our best players available is paramount to our success So here’s hoping they are effectively communicating.
4 Go to commentsPSTD, I salute you.
6 Go to commentsWhy don't they just give up on scrums and lineouts, cut the number of players to 13, and call the game ‘rugby league’? These idiots are determined to destroy the game as we know it, and instead of ‘attracting youngsters to the game’ as Beaumont suggests, it’ll deter a lot of the less skilled, maybe overweight kids who it is perfect for. World Rugby is detestable. And as for the 20 minute ‘red’ - why not teach the players to tackle better? (Like the current tackle height trials are supposed to do, but will probably be squashed by the NZRU as usual). I despair for the union game, I really do.
35 Go to commentsHere’s hoping the emphasis on how the tmo interfaces on game infractions is taken into account more seriously than what was adjudicated during the 23 wc. That was a shambles, plus Barnes the abs ref never contested some of the calls, something he’s known for. And then we're left with wr opologizing after the game that smith’s try was legit. I was even more pizzed. And as for the red card if the infringement is clearly intentional foul then the individual is out of the game and after 20mins the bench replacement comes on. So, there’s then the degree of seriousness taken into account within the 20min stand down.
36 Go to commentsNot sure they the article doesn’t hit on TMO this year, that’s were they were putting focus right. The fact the other areas haven’t improved shows just how poor the comp is at focusing on its direction. There should still have been further gains in both those areas this year even it if didn’t have the same focus as others. The whistle to restart time, like touch finders of 26 seconds, surely has to be a key focus area next year. Why should a side be given so much time to kick for touch? Cut that down to 5 or 10 seconds, penalties both become less of key stalling/defensive strategy, and become more ‘live’ with tap kicks becoming much more favourable quick actions. Theres absolutely no reason we have to wait over 10 secs for the preferred kicker to walk up and try and take maximum advantage, especially when half the time its just a delay tactic to give the forwards time to plan, as the kicker hardly even trys to find the corner with his kick, anyone could have kicked it straight out for the lineout.
36 Go to commentsShame. Hope something else can be arranged.
3 Go to commentsTitans of under-20s rugby …. Reporters tired verbiage akin to calling every player a “star” and any Fijian side as ”Flying”. The French English and Irish are the Titans of U20 rugby. Noone in the South is now. This tournament is however, good prep to regain titan status.
1 Go to commentsWill be humbling coming back and playing second fiddle to Dmac.
4 Go to commentsSounds like quite a bit of development has occurred regarding Mo’unga’s situation. Either NZR has stepped up their offer (big time) or RMo has had a reality check on what it will be like to be outside of the high performance environment of AB rugby. Maybe both. It reads like there are only a few remaining details to be sorted out before it is a done deal.
4 Go to commentsCurrently, a prop that has been substituted can go back on field if his original replacement gets injured. Can a red carded prop go back if his replacement gets injured, or will it be uncontested scrums?
13 Go to commentsWhat about a free kick from a scrum? Can you call another scrum? Or are they just giving straight penalties now?
35 Go to commentsLoved that comment by Andrew that the ‘water boys’ rule was changed in 2020 just to stymie the Boks!
35 Go to commentsOne of the best the Boks have ever produced. PSDT has an engine that goes non-stop for the full 80 min.
6 Go to commentsThe real deal.
6 Go to commentsIt’s been said that Nienaber will head back to SA too before next World Cup , hoarding all the amazing IP gained in Irish system … get a grip … Irish system needs to Milk the likes of Barrett . First time a leading all Black in his prime has gone to Ireland for any period of time . Enjoy it .
22 Go to comments20 min RC is the only good solution of a bunch of bad solutions. Ridiculous that it has taken this long and caused so many uneven contests. In general these are all very good changes - one is surprised that NH brokers were able to see sense at long last.
13 Go to comments“While a red card will mean a temporary team disadvantage, the replacement system will focus punishment on the offending player instead of disrupting the game itself.” This might work for amateur rugby, where players just want to be on the pitch for as long as possible, but hopefully we’ve got to a point where top level professionals care about the success of their team much more than about whether they personally are on the pitch or not.
13 Go to comments