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Nigel Owens tweets his official stance on Mathieu Raynal decision
By Ian Cameron
Retired referee Nigel Owen has tweeted his official stance on Mathieu Raynal’s decision to penalise Bernard Foley for time-wasting in the final minute of the Wallabies Bledisloe Cup clash with the All Blacks on Thursday.
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The decision saw possession pass back to the All Blacks, who after a couple of phases of attack crossed the line to score a match-winning try after the buzzer had gone at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
The Wallabies – who haven’t won the Bledisloe Cup in 18 years – were left to wonder what might have been after heroically battling back into the game to take the lead in the dying moments. The call has likewise enraged Australian rugby fans, who have viewed it as an unprecedented decision, given the context.
Video footage and audio has since suggested that the Foley did take far too long to kick the ball after multiple warnings from the French official, who can be repeatedly heard telling the player to kick the ball.
Owens is often pestered by social media users for his take on big refereeing decisions and he tweeted his final take, alongside a video of the incident on the social media platform.
Owens wrote: “As so many of you have been in touch to ask. Clear communication and warning to the player to get on with it. A fair and strong refereeing call my Raynal I feel. Learning here is not for the referee, but the players to get on with it when ref asks.
As so many of you have been in touch to ask. Clear communication and warning to the player to get on with it. A fair and strong refereeing call my Raynal I feel. Learning here is not for the referee, but the players to get on with it when ref asks. pic.twitter.com/oZQASsO93f
— Nigel Owens MBE (@Nigelrefowens) September 17, 2022
Former England 10 Andy Goode is in agreement, writing in his RugbyPass column that Raynal did indeed get it right. “As a fly half, I’ve been warned hundreds of times by referees for taking too long but I wasn’t penalised because I listened and booted the ball into touch. The referee is always right and play to the whistle are things you learn as a kid and Foley simply fell foul of that.
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“It’s natural that the amount of time you take to kick to touch is going to come under greater scrutiny in the final moments of a game when you’re in the lead but I’ve watched the game back and he did definitely take longer than he had been doing previously.”
Just imagine it? Australians complaining about being treated unfairly! Poor dabs, as we say in Wales.
hmmmm shoo, tough one...
. Agree with Owens. Read the Ref and get on with the game instead of staging all the time. Ozzy Nic 'soccer injury moustache' White you and your 10 cost you the game - over 40 seconds of being told to kick it including the Ref calling time out to be triple clear telling the 10 he must play on and he still didnt kick it out with his team mates screaming at him to do so. So who is the real flog, Ozzy blew it and NZ took their opportunity. The Ref could not be more clearer the whole game. Tim Horan is a flogger. The whole commentary team need to study the LAW book and get real with their cowboy antics. No wonder Referees are hard to find. The Ref had just officated over one of the best NZ OZZY games for years. Positives everywhere. Over 75 points scored and it went down to the wire. Which meant the referee kept the game open for 80 minutes as much as the players mistakes would let him - WELL DONE RAYNAL THE REF OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP - OTHER Positives in OZZYS FAVOUR. The Ref should have checked OZZY Kellaways try forward pass and didnt whilst the 10 quickly kicked the conversion 3x as fast to avoid a review of the pass. The OZZY lock should have got a red card for deliberately & ilegally attacking the knee of the player caught in a ruck.
This sits with the ref. The outcome he should be focused on is preserving the time on the clock, given the game was in the 78'min. The ref is the only one who can call time off and he should have done this straight after awarding Australia the penalty, but no he waits 20+ sec, then calls time off and back on within 7 sec, penalising Foley as he is kicking the ball. So the ref was the one wasting game time and should be called out.
"Official stance"? Owens has no official standing in the sport. What he tweeted was his personal opinion, it doesn't impact the argument any more than if Donald Trump had tweeted about it.
As Nigel Owens implies - if you don't listen to the ref, you pay the price.
In the context of the game, I think the Aussies behaviour tested the patience of the referee.
You do not whistle statement making decisions in the last minute of a test match. It's started with lower leagues and then accepted as official policy.
Trust the Saffas to bitch about the ref. Oh wait…
Great to see I'm not the only person who is backing the correct referring decision. Maybe it's because we are not Australians & understand the rules of the game. Actually they (Aussies) could/should have been penilised @ most of their lineouts for "time wasting"