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Nigel Owens says 'something needs to change' after wave of red cards in Premiership

Nigel Owens. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

Referee Nigel Owens has said that “something needs to change” after a spate of red cards in the Gallagher Premiership this weekend.  Two players were sent off in Bath’s contest with Gloucester on Friday, and three more saw red on Saturday as Leicester Tigers hosted Wasps, with the majority of the dismissals being for contact with the head, be it as the ball carrier, tackler or in the ruck. 

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Speaking on BT Sport’s Rugby Tonight, the Welshman said that there needs to be a change in player behaviour. With increasing concerns that players are persistently allowed to break the game’s laws, Owens said that either referees must referee to the lawbook, or there must be changes to the laws themselves. 

“The players don’t seem to grasp what the directives and what the law is really,” Owens said. 

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“There really needs to be a change in behaviour because you just can’t lead with an elbow, or shoulder, or going flying into a ruck anymore with a head, you just can’t do it.

“Whether it’s the dynamics of the modern game that makes it very difficult for players to change and adopt, I don’t know, but something needs to change. 

“If we apply the law as it is, I’m not quite sure if the game can be refereed that way anymore because the law of the ruck, for example, means you must enter the ruck above hip height, you must grasp or bind onto your own teammate when you join the ruck to then move people off on your feet away from the ruck area.

“The game hasn’t been played or refereed like that. The law is there, but it’s just not refereed or played like that. 

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“If you look at situations like the croc roll for example, it’s quite clear in the law today that you cannot wilfully collapse a ruck.

“So you basically can’t grab a player and pull him to the ground or croc roll him to the ground, you can’t do it in the law, but it’s never been refereed like that and it’s never been coached like that.  

“So I think people really need to take a step back, we need to look at the laws, then we all must collectively decide ‘are we going to referee the law as in the lawbook and change the way the game is played and hopefully change player behaviour, and that is safety paramount as well,’ or do we have to look at saying ‘do we need to now change the laws of exactly what’s happening on that field.’ 

“But one thing that I think is very clear from this weekend is that players, in all fairness to the referees, really do need to change their behaviour.”  

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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