Nigel Owens weighes in Koroibete tackle and de Klerk's yellow card
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Former test referee Nigel Owens has weighed in on two big moments in the Rugby Championship match between Australia and South Africa.
In his latest column for Wales Rugby Online, commenting on Faf de Klerk's yellow card and Nic White's actions, Owens wrote that 'What Faf tried to do was knock the ball backwards out of Nic White’s hands, which he is quite entitled to do.'
He added that 'he was onside at the scrum and on his feet, so he’s entitled to knock White’s arm causing him to lose the ball forward which would become a knock-on. Or he can knock the ball backwards towards his own side to try and gain possession. All completely legal actions, as the ball was out of the scrum and he was onside.'
Owens explained that what de Klerk got wrong was that when 'he tried to knock the ball back, White by this time had it up to his chest/head area, so Faf ended up catching him in the face. In my view, it was a complete accident. I would have penalised it because he missed the ball and caught him in the face, but just a penalty, nothing more, because Faf is not trying to hit Nic White in the face, in my view.'
The former referee said that he believes that White should have been penalised for his actions as he milked the situation, which goes against rugby values.
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'What you have then is White milking it all and trying to get Faf de Klerk sent off in some shape or form. He was trying to get him sanctioned by rolling around. To me, that goes against rugby values. Of all the big hits Nic White has taken, I don’t think that action by Faf would have caused that response to happen.
What I would have done is your first offence is De Klerk getting it wrong, completely accidental, no intent, it’s a penalty. What you have then is a totally unacceptable reaction from Nic White and against the values of the game. So I would have reversed the penalty and penalised him for his actions. I would have said to him ‘You are not in the theatre, you are on the rugby field, where are your rugby values? You can’t behave like that.
Rugby can’t take the moral high ground and complain about footballers rolling around and pretending to be hurt because it does happen in rugby.
It doesn’t happen often, but, as we saw in this game, rugby players can sometimes behave in not a rugby way. When it does happen, rugby tends to deal with it. Unfortunately in this instance, that didn’t happen. That was the disappointing thing for me. Nic White shouldn’t have got away with it and should have had a good stern talking to about rugby values, at least, even if the referee decided against penalising him.'
Moving on to Marika Koroibete's tackle on Makazole Mapimpi, which denied the South African a try, Owens said that he is 'finding it difficult to see this as anything but an illegal tackle by Koroibete.'
Marika Koroibete denies Mapimpi 🚫#AUSvRSA #RugbyChampionship
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) August 27, 2022
pic.twitter.com/wmizDgIf0F
He added that he had spoken to a few referees about the tackle and that 'Most of them are on a shoulder charge, a couple think it’s ok.'
'To me, he leads with his shoulder and his arm is tucked down by his side. There’s not an attempt to wrap, for me.' Owens added
What happens in a legal tackle is as the shoulder makes contact your arm then, in that split second, is simultaneously wrapping at the same time. Your arm is out ready to grasp and as the shoulder hits the arm clamps around.
But, if you look at the moment when Koroibete’s shoulder makes contact, his arm is down by his side. It’s not in an action or an attempt to wrap. That is the key. I can’t see a simultaneous wrap with the hit of the shoulder and that’s why I think it’s foul play.'
