That was probably the first time I've seen the tmo get that frustrated with the tv director

What annoys me about the French try is he gave the on-field decision based on his assistant saying "I THINK he grounded it". Whatever the on-field decision was could not be overturned, so that is where the problem was. I don't think even the players who were right on top of the ball at the time know if it was grounded properly or not!

great to see Nigel explain from a referees point of view.........I love this

Willemse never tried to wrap his arm. Led with the shoulder absolute RED!

We need this man back on the pitch!

He dodged the Willemse issue

Can’t see how Willemse only got a yellow card for the Porter hit. Porter’s height never changed from the moment Willemse attempted that clear out so he was always going to tackle his head. Red card all day long. Same as POM a few years ago against Wales.

Willemse was never legal on the first one so why was mitigation applied? Or maybe I should ask why the officiating team felt he was legal? There was never an attempt to wrap on the first hit and he lead with the shoulder.

I remember watching Barry John in the 1971 Lions tour of NZ. “Kua hinga he totara i te wao nui a Tane.”

I'm discovering this and I am absolutely loving it. Really great to better understand referee decisions, explained after the facts, in a calm fashion.

The penalty try law is absurd - Wales would have been better off falling down with the collapsed maul rather than continuing on and scoring where they did. So in effect they were penalised for playing to the spirit of the game. If a penalty is committed that would lead to a penalty try then a penalty try should be awarded irrespective of whether or not a try is actually scored. The situation with being held up over the line is similar - the attacking team is better off not trying to score until they are sure they won't be held up, which is surely *not* what the game needs. Attacks should be rewarded, and illegal behaviour punished, not the other way around.

Thank you so much for your insight Nigel. This old second row understands so much more about the real beautiful game because of your passion about how rugby should be played and refereed. 😊👍😊

I love Nigel but has he ever straight up disagreed with a decision? He seems to either completely agree with the refs or say that it’s up to opinion with the controversial ones (willemse was a clear red) but I’ve never heard him say any ref was ever wrong like that could never happen.

Nigel with the barnstorming performance :)

Thank you, Nigel, always wonderful to hear from you.

Oh so a TMO can only intervene on technical issues within two phases? Would've been nice if that rule was in place during the World Cup final but I'm glad to see the change.

Just want to say I love this section and I was actually looking for it 2 days ago to see what was going to be said :)

Please include the clips of the ref in the England u 20s v Wales U20 game. Brilliant game

Curious to find out what you have to say about the "No Try" decision at the end of the SCO vs FRA this weekend...

great video Nigel with your vast honest knowledge in the game. some great referring explanations to help the understanding the game. many thanks

Question to Nigel: Do you think that Ben O'Keeffe was over-penalizing Scotland in the 2H, and giving out Yellow Cards (2) seems he has a problem with Scotland!

So "Willimess" changes to "Willimsim". Ag nee!😁

@nigelowens was England's final try a forward pass ? Rob from Swansea, but very proud of our welsh team

Yes he should have two red cards. I get the impression the second was only upgraded because he was already red carded, if the first had not happened, the one he was red carded for, would have remained a yellow. The first one was worse in any case, much less movement from Porter.

Why are both players not immediately referred for an HIA? If this is about player safety then that should be the first thing that happens after a head clash, be it deliberate or accidental.

Rugby referring is only so difficult because of grey areas and/or immediate changes such as from tackle to ruck. Doesn’t happen in soccer where the rules are more simple and understandable.

Hi Nigel ! 80 mins on the clock . Defending team on their own goal line pass the ball out to the winger, but he knocks the ball on ,then an attacking player picks up the ball and quickly ground the ball on the try line . Play advantage try stands ? Knock on game over try doesn't count ?

The headline says, "Should France's Paul Willemse had(sic) TWO red cards?" The first tackle was far more deserving of a red than the second one. I think the referee bottled it there. Far too easy to hand the decision to somebody else.

@Nigelrefowens as the the tackle had not been completed and a ruck couldn’t be formed this leaves only a maul, in which case should Willemse not have to be fully bound by the shoulder to his team mate?

@Nigelrefowens Porter hadn’t completed the tackle as the player hadn’t been brought to ground, a ruck is only formed when the ball is on the ground. As Willemse performed an illegal clear out

I don't think you clarified the Mitchell try satisfactorily , was the tackle and try not the one phase of play. Ref saw tackle "not complete" some felt it a harsh call for Italy, who never seem to get a break.

Regarding JPR, the degree to which the AB feared him is evidenced by the number of times they tried to take his head off with high tackles that were illegal then and would be instant red cards today. Bryan Williams was particularly guilty of this. While there have always been great rugby players, of all nations, during the late 60s and 70s Wales had a team full of them. It is so sad to see them passing. RIP JPR.

If you are 94 feet tall and 300 stone……then you need to massively adjust your height when making a tackle and always have These tackles are just the individual being Dull

Love Nigel Owens. What a man. Best ever.

So on that last Welsh try Nigel talked about, what if they deliberatly knocked the ball on? Would the penalty still apply? Second to that, if a player is offside on the ruck, and tries to avoid interfereing, if the scrum half just threw the ball at him and made contact is that an automatic offside penalty? I have thrown the ball at people to make it go off them to ge ta line out. What is the standard on that?

Got the name spot on in the end

He didn't wrap his arms against Porter. I've never seen the TMO get annoyed like that.

Nigel, Is the referee required to make an on field call of whether a try has been scored or not? Or can he declare there is no on field decision and refer the call to the TMO?

We miss you Mr Nigel !!

@Nigelrefowens, Porter was the tackler not the ball carrier, Willemse illegally tackled a player without the ball

Nigel, I so enjoyed the Welsh comeback during the 2nd half against Scotland. They were so close to taking the game. Now, as you say here the protocol for TMO interjection where there is a technical decision is that they can only go back 2 phases before the try is scored. Why then is Wayne Barnes continuing to justify his and Tom Foley's decision to go back to a knock-on in the lineout some 6 or so phases prior to Aaron Smith's try in the NZ vs Sth Africa 2023 World Cup final? Surely it is time to take it on the chin and admit the mistake as Wayne has done previously concerning the forward pass in the 2007 NZ vs France World Cup game.

can we get Nigel Owens to take over VAR please

Nigel backed Ireland for the win...not many did...he is missed.

Do you think that Andrew Porter is being refereed fairly in the scrum?

so love you Nigel best ref ever.

His arms tucked as well

Willemse hit a player directly to the head. Player was already involved in the breakdown so no last second drop in height by Porter. Willemse made no attempt to wrap. This was illegal and should have been a red card. The ref chickened out of making the correct decision and referred it to the bunker who then got it wrong in my opinion. Perhaps the citing commissioner might be more inclined to uphold the principle of player safety.

I completely disagree with Nigel: the tackle on Costelow was undeniably reckless. The Scottish player comes in from some distance with a clear line of sight of a player already in the ruck. Clear outs like that have been red before, and should always be red, because they *are* reckless. Come on Nigel, it is ok to say the ref got it wrong, the world won't end.

Red card season again, missed it so much absolute best part of rugby.

merci mister respect

This might be fun with some actual footage of the games, but this format is just plain frustrating.

TL; DR: The referee is always correct. Except when World Rugby says otherwise three days after, but, heh, the game is over.

best ref ever in the game

I hate French tv directors they really try to influence too much. Also that was a knock on Gibson Park dislodged that ball for the try france were given it was clearly pitty points.

There is now clearly a double standard at play , both were red cards but refs have clearly been briefed to reduce the number of reds .

This request for your opinion anticipates your review of today’s (Feb 10, 2024) match between France and Scotland. France won because Scotland’s last-minute try was disallowed due to the referee’s ‘on-field decision’, which was ‘held up’. Subsequent analysis by the TMO showed it probably was a try, but it could not be awarded because the evidence was not conclusive enough to overturn the ref’s initial impression that it was held up. That initial impression was just an impression, made in real time. Why does it become ‘set in cement’? Why, if the ref asks for confirmation from the TMO, does it stay set in cement, even after slo-mo coverage from critical angles shows a try would have been awarded if not for the ref’s initial impression? Would it not be fairer for a decision to be made AFTER all the evidence had been reviewed? If TMO replays still do not resolve, only then would we go with the ref’s initial impression.

On field decision for French try was weak....AR said "I think I have a grounding".....very poor decision....French television director should have got the Man of the match award??!!

But the first Willemse card was for a ruck clear out so it’s a different mechanical process for the player. He was in the process of trying to wrap the arm but had to clear the French player (who was actually being tackled). I’m not saying it wasn’t a card, I’m just saying we should get the facts right. Wonder why Welsh prop’s hit on Crosby wasn’t a card…

Shame that Barnes and the TMO didn’t know the limit of only two phases back in the RWC final

I guess we will only have the controversial debate on "do accidental head-contact tackles should be automatic red cards?" when an irish or english player will be sent-off in the next rounds..... Because when it's a french player, Nigel and co will always say "it's ok" 🤣😅

Have had *

To be fair Nigel, your pronunciation on English is really very welsh, isn't? ;)

Come on - at least get the gammar in the title correct. You're the official body representing the game. Nigel deserves better too!

How about giving the video a linguistically correct title?

Why does’nt rugby just become touch or flag ! Is that not what the softies want ?

Why leave a player on the field when he has a yellow card Bad coaching Out side back who is a superstar maybe. I wouldn’t leave on Ardie or Audre on

I'm sorry to hear about your government killing all the farmers in the UK

Why is he on a farm?

I love rugby but every game being played 14v15 takes away from the play so much. Hard to argue that high tackles and such shoukdnt be punished hard. They obviously should. But I can't even watch the sport amymore

The Welsh fans were just embarassing. No sportsmanship, no want to see a good game. They just wanted cards for everything, and reds if possible.

Come on, Nigel, what's the point of this video if you just give the options faced by the TMO for the first card on Willemse, but then fail to give your own opinion? This whole series just smacks of backing up your fellow refs. Maybe not too surprising, given who is paying you...

The red cards are ruining the game, the offender should be replaced and after the game the player is fined and banned accordingly, only one team has ever won a test with a red card in the first half, that im aware of, its ruining our game

Have had two red cards, please use proper grammar.

This was the most arrogant ref in history. Thank goodness for the sport that he doesn't ref anymore!

Its a complete GLOBAL loss to the Game that you are no longer reffing Nigel Pse get involved on the Park again…would you? • That 100th Game between the Bokke and AB’s is a great plan GREAT ONE‼️ beste from ZA’s Winelands 👊🔥 🪖

Nigel how is ken owens