The Nigel Owens verdict on the big calls that upset a nation
After what was arguably one of the best weekends of Rugby World Cup action fans have seen, there were a number of incidents that have since been dissected.
Referee Nigel Owens has addressed some of the biggest calls, perhaps leaving a few more questions than answers at times, but hopefully clearing up a few of the big issues.
France in particular were unhappy following their epic contest with South Africa, and Owens has looked directly at two of the main talking points.
The Eben Etzebeth intercept attempt
In the 7th minute of the match, with France already 7-0 up and dominating, they surged forward and looked to have an overlap out wide. Etzebeth leaped to intercept and knocked the ball down with one hand. The crowd felt it was a knock on, but the officials said it went backwards or at least, laterally, out his hand.
Owen’s explains why the game played on.
“He is very, very lucky. He goes with one hand out. There is no way he’s going to catch the ball, so what he tries to do, he tries to knock the ball backwards, which is legal! As long as you knock the ball backwards. If he had made contact with that ball and that ball had gone forward, then it would be a deliberate knock on and a pretty certain yellow card as well.
“When you look at the footage, there’s a lot of debate about this. Some of you saying, ‘well I think it’s gone forward’, some of you saying ‘no I think it’s gone backwards’. It really is a very very difficult one. It’s impossible to see 100%, to put your house on it, has it gone forward or has it gone back.
“So the referee looks at this, and I have to say, I tend to agree with the referee here because it’s very difficult to say that’s its gone forward or gone back, so the referees view (and the TMOs view) is, the ball went backwards – or certainly didn’t go clearly forward – and therefore we have a play on.
“But remember, he’s very, very lucky. If that goes forward, it’s a pretty certain penalty and yellow card.”
The Kwagga Smith penalty win
Owens gave his explanation for why Smith was not penalised when he won a crucial breakdown turnover in the 68th minute.
“Some of you have been debating. ‘What about the penalties, hands on ground, legal or not?’ Okay.. Nothing in law says that you can’t put your hands on the ground. So we can’t say that any player that puts his hand on the ground is committing an offence, because it doesn’t say that in the law. So the way that the referees will deal with this, is the law of the contact tackle area. So if you come in to jackal the ball, what the jackler must do? He must release the ball carrier before he regathers on the ball, or if he’s not in contact with the ball carrier, when he comes in, he must maintain his own body weight.
“So what he can’t do, is put his hands away or beyond the ball to support his body weight and then come on to the ball to gather. Now if he comes in and tries to go for the ball but in doing so because of the speed, his hands touches the ground around the ball, but that is not keeping his weight up – which means he’s supporting his own bodyweight – then we won’t necessarily penalise the hand touching the ground. We’d only penalise it if the hands are too far or he’s using the ground to support his bodyweight.
“So that’s what the referee decides. The referee needs to decide, was that hand supporting the bodyweight before he goes onto the ball and if so, it will be a penalty. If he feels well, he just touched the ground around the ball, it’s not supporting his bodyweight, then we’d have a play on.”
Pollard landed the 52m penalty to give South Africa a 29-25 lead.
You can watch the full video below (territory dependant).
Etzebeth and Smith will both be in action again on Saturday, when South Africa take on England in the semi-final of this year’s Rugby World Cup.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments