Nigel Owens weighs in on controversial end to Bledisloe I

Former test referee Nigel Owens has shared his opinion on the controversial end to Bledisloe I.

Australia had battled back valiantly from 31-13 down with an hour played in Thursday's thrilling Rugby Championship clash to lead 37-34 with time effectively up at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.

The hosts seemed certain to have snapped a three-game losing run against New Zealand when Lalakai Foketi secured a turnover penalty in front of his own posts, only for Raynal to reverse the call due to perceived time-wasting.

New Zealand were handed a five-metre attacking scrum and eventually spun the ball wide, where Jordie Barrett had space to slide over and earn his side back-to-back Test wins for the first time this year.

Nigel Owens shared a clip of the incident on Twitter and added that he felt that it was a 'fair and strong refereeing call' from Mathieu Raynal.

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

He added that 'Learning here is not for the referee, but the players to get on with it when ref asks.'

Raynal explained his decision was down to Foley failing to play on when the clock restarted, but Australia head coach Rennie was furious with the call.

"I was just talking to Bernard Foley and what we knew was the time was out and he told the boys to play but the clock was stopped," Rennie told Stan Sport. 

"So there was no real urgency to do that and I don't know... it just shows a little bit of a lack of feel for such an important moment in the game.

"The referee had told him to play and at no stage was he told or did he believe he was going to call a scrum from that.

"Most situations the clock is off and the clock stays off, so it sounds like the clock went off and then he started it again. As we know, a team scores a try late and you take your time getting back to halfway and they stop the clock and wait until you kick off.

"The disappointing thing from our point of view is it was a fantastic game of footy and we should be celebrating the game as opposed to talking about a ref decision in the last minute."

All Blacks head coach Ian Foster said that it was a clear cut call.

“I thought it was very clear cut,” Foster told reporters in his post-match press conference.

“They were delaying the kick. He said time off.

“He warned him then he said time off and then he said to speed up then he said time on. Then he asked him twice to kick it.

“I understand there is a contentious nature about it but it was very clear cut from the opposition.

“The other one that wasn’t clear cut was when Kellaway and the TMO wanted to look at what was a very suspicious forward pass and yet the conversion was allowed to be taken.”

Veteran lock Sam Whitelock, who has played well over 100 test matches for the All Blacks, said that he had seen nothing like it before.

“I haven’t had that happen to me in a game whether for or against the side I’m playing for,” he said.

“You’ve got to make sure you’ve got a good plan to close out the game whether you’re up by one point or by more.

“Slips (James Slipper) and I have known each other for a long time and he said ‘look, we’ve just got to be better than that’ and he’s spot on.

“It’s something that I know that they will review and look at it and they’ll make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

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