Article: RWC 2015 Referee - Nigel Owens

[Robert Burns]

You can view the page at http://www.rugbyrefs.com/content.php?383-RWC-2015-Referee-Nigel-Owens

 

[MrQeu]

I would have started the article with "you may have never met him before but..."

 

[Richard smith]

Have great memories of watching Nigel referee a European cup Quarter final a few years back.. the game was Edinburgh V Toulouse at Murrayfield.
I spent 80 minutes watching the referee

 

[L'irlandais]

Another quiet word from Nigel Owens, this time to Simon Zebo.

 

[crossref]

I don't like this, it seems to me it's beyond the referee's power.

Zebo was taken by surprise, the next player might refuse to apologise, what would NO do then?

 

[Flish]

Is it beyond the refs power? If players are acting in any way that’s liable to create a negative reaction or future flash point in the game and you have an opportunity to manage it then I say go for it, makes your life easier, makes the game better

 

[crossref]

Is it beyond the refs power? If players are acting in any way that’s liable to create a negative reaction or future flash point in the game and you have an opportunity to manage it then I say go for it, makes your life easier, makes the game better

Normally manage it means telling them don't do it again. Then - if they do it again - you PK them


In this case he ordered Zebo to make an apology.
1 - the ref doesn't have the power to force him to do this
2 - so, then, what's he going to do if Zebo says no he'd rather not ? Disallow the try?

 

[Flish]

*shrug* then he risks being in the refs bad books the rest of the game. I gave two players a lecture, told them to stop dicking about off the ball and suggested they shake hands and crack on today, it worked, no stronger sanctions needed, I didn’t have the power to make them do it, but they knew they were in the wrong and that it was the right thing to do, and in the overall spirit of that game. They could have refused, but chose not to.

 

[crossref]

I think that telling players to shake hands, or telling players to apologise is treating them as children.
You may get away with it, but they won't like you for it, and I don't think that's a safe way of 'managing it', it could backfire

 

[Flish]

They were acting like children, and they knew it - judge the situation in front of you on it’s merits, there are times it’ll work and times it won’t, don’t think NO was wrong in this case, and someone needs to police the respect on the pitch as these players are supposed to be an example to others, ie the children.

 

[chbg]

Core Values include Respect, about which NO feels strongly:

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/creeping-lack-respect-rugby-call-15297331

 

[crossref]

I agree with core values
But I think referee should confine themselves to the sanctions in the law book .. ie warning , PK , YC , RC

 

[Treadmore]

I agree with core values
But I think referee should confine themselves to the sanctions in the law book .. ie warning , PK , YC , RC

From the law book:
[LAWS]It is through discipline, control and mutual respect that the spirit of the game flourishes and, in the context of a game as physically challenging as rugby, these are the qualities which forge the fellowship and sense of fair play so essential to the game’s ongoing success and survival.[/LAWS]

from Law 9 under Misconduct:
[LAWS]
27. A player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship.

28. Players must respect the authority of the referee. They must not dispute the referee’s decisions. They must stop playing immediately when the referee blows the whistle to stop play.
Sanction: Penalty.[/LAWS]

 

[crossref]

I agree with all that treadmore
The sanction for bad sportsmanship and similar is a PK . A referee doesn't have the power to compel a player to make an apology . .. any more than he could make him do 30 press ups, or a lap round the pitch, or drink a dirty pint

The sanctions are : warning , PK, YC , RC
In the zebo case a warning would be correct

 

[SimonSmith]

You're overworrying it. Some refs can get away with it - NO is clearly one of them. he has enough chips in the bank to cash in a few.

A team you've seen twice in three years? High Risk Maneuver.

 

[crossref]

"World Rugby's chief executive Brett Gopser has described the Welsh referee's dressing down of Simon Zebo as a 'thoughtful and well managed intervention"

I think "high risk manoeuvre" is closer to the mark.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/world-rugby-boss-lavishes-praise-15308893

 

[didds]

I think that telling players to shake hands, or telling players to apologise is treating them as children.
You may get away with it, but they won't like you for it, and I don't think that's a safe way of 'managing it', it could backfire

Totally agree. Its not "right" whatever t5eh age either - even if it IS children.

Mutual respect comes form earning respect - not be being forced to shake hands with somebody that at that moment in time you dont; have any for.

And what as a ref if you are going to do if the player(s) refuse? card them for ref abuse ie not following your instruction? Bet that will go far at disciplinary...

didds

 

[Taff]

... And what as a ref if you are going to do if the player(s) refuse? card them for ref abuse ie not following your instruction?

If they refused to apologise, I wouldn't have thought there was much a Ref can do. But the offender could well find himself on the wrong side of a 50/50 decision.

I have a thing about teams clapping each other off the pitch - it always happened in my day. When I've politely said to teams "You clapping them off boys?" I have to come across a team that has refused. Sometimes teams / players just need a gentle nudge to do the right thing; and if the Referee isn't going to be the one giving the nudge, who will?

 

[crossref]

If they refused to apologise, I wouldn't have thought there was much a Ref can do. But the offender could well find himself on the wrong side of a 50/50 decision.

I hope you don't mean that , this would be to lose all your integrity .

 

[didds]

Is this a new thing, not clapping the oppo? Ive not been involved in a game (40+ years) where it never happened, even in the most bad tempered of games!

didds