Referee Owens clears up high tackle confusion
Nigel Owens has sought to provide clarity over new directives concerning high tackles in rugby union and insists there is absolutely no desire to remove big hits from the sport.
Last December, World Rugby confirmed the introduction of measures aimed at limiting both reckless and accidental contact with the head, with illegal tackle categories redefined and sanctions to deter high tackles increased.
Yet Owens – widely regarded as one of his sport’s leading officials and currently involved in Tissot’s #RespectTheRef campaign – believes the changes have been misinterpreted in certain quarters.
“There has been a bit of confusion,” he told Omnisport. “I think people have been thinking that the tackle law has changed, when it hasn’t changed. All there has been really is a focus and an emphasis on us [officials] being stricter in dealing with high tackles or contact to the head that is dangerous and causes serious injury, or illegal contact with the head with force.
“Last year there could have been a decision where a referee would look at [an incident] as an orange, which means if the referee gives a red card, he’s right, and if he gives a yellow card and explains why he’s given a yellow card, he’s also right.
“The majority of referees would tend to give the one below just to make sure, so if it’s an orange card, instead of going up to a red you may come down to a yellow because it’s one of those in-between ones.
“Basically this is telling us ‘look, maybe last year we could have been looking at this as an in-between, but this year we really need to be strict on this and give a red for it’.
“Where I’m pretty sure we all agree is we need to make sure that such a physical contact sport as rugby is made as safe as it possibly can be. These directives that have come in are not to get rid of the big hits. We want the big tackles where people get up on their feet and cheer when someone gets tackled back a few yards in a legal tackle. We love that in the game, that’s what makes rugby special in one sense.
“What we want to do is to get rid of the reckless, where a player goes in high and maybe doesn’t think about his duty of care to the player he’s tackling… get away from those illegal, reckless and dangerous hits that make contact with the head.”
Owens was the referee for a European Champions Cup match between Saracens and Toulon last month in which France international Mathieu Bastareaud flattened Alex Lozowski with a perfectly timed – and 100 per cent legal – tackle.
“Both players got up afterwards, the crowd were on their feet and even the players on the field could feel it, even I as a referee was thinking ‘oof, what a hit’,” Owens added.
“We don’t want to lose that from the game but we want those hits to be legal, to be as safe as big hits like that could possibly be. The awareness [regarding head injuries] has certainly heightened in the last few years and quite rightly so. Player safety comes first every time, of course it does.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
3 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
10 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
41 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
10 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
41 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
3 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
41 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
51 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
41 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
41 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. All the Kiwis sticking up for this unprincipled individual because they can't accept justified criticism, he has zero credibility or integrity. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
41 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
41 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
2 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to comments