Nigel Owens: Why Willis was carded and Fickou wasn't for tip tackle
Nigel Owens has assessed why England’s Jack Willis was yellow-carded in Dublin for an incident that was similar to the un-carded intervention by Gael Fickou of France in Paris during round five of the Guinness Six Nations. Back-rower Willis was sin-binned in the closing stages of the English loss to Ireland for his tip tackle on Ross Byrne. However, a penalty was only awarded against French midfielder Fickou when he upended Wales’ Alun Wyn Jones in an earlier match last Saturday.
What gives? Test centurion referee Owens claimed the incidents were slightly different which was why they had different refereeing outcomes, Jaco Pepyer brandishing the yellow card at the Aviva Stadium and Nic Berry keeping his cards in his pocket at Stade de France.
Speaking on the latest episode of Whistle Watch, Owens explained: “Jack Willis yellow card, is it a deserved one? There is pick and drive, there is a turn but there is no high degree of danger and head contact into the ground and therefore you come from the red card to the yellow. So, yellow card? The correct decision.
“Fickou and Alun Wyn Jones, some will be asking why isn’t this a yellow card then? Well, it is slightly different. We have a lift, Alun Wyn Jones is quite low to the ground, he comes down pretty safely on his back, very low degree of danger.
“With Fickou, it is more of the dynamic of the tackle rather than tipping and turning and driving. So, here in this instance, a very low degree of danger and sanction is a penalty only. The correct decision as well.”
Having spoken at length at the top of his programme about last weekend’s main talking point, the red-carding of England’s Freddie Steward, Owens rounded off the episode by running the rule over two other round-five incidents a knock-on by France’s Uini Atonio and a try-saving intervention by England’s Maro Itoje.
“Atonio knock-on, was it deliberate? Is he trying to regather that ball and is he in a realistic position to regather that ball? We don’t have a slap, we don’t have a deliberate knock in that sense, so we go onto the next stage. What was he trying to do? Was he trying to regather that ball and if so, did he have a realistic chance of regathering it?
“When you look at that I would say he probably does so to me that is not an act of a deliberate knock-on, and it is enough of an opportunity for him to regather that ball. Therefore, a knock-on only is the correct decision.
“Itoje, quick tap, was he offside? Itoje is on the try line so if the quick tap is five metres out you don’t have to be 10 metres back because the try line is closer than 10 metres so he is back on the try line, he is legal.
“Once he comes up to make the tackle, Farell, who is now retreating, is then put onside once Itoje, who is onside, passes him. So, the tackle and the turnover is completely legal, they are onside. Play on, goalline dropout.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments