Owens sees red at replacement rule
Retired referee Nigel Owens isn’t a fan of the rule allowing the All Blacks and other Rugby Championship teams to replace redcarded players after 20 minutes.
The rule – introduced by Sanzaar for the last three Super Rugby seasons but not in use for the July international test rugby window – will be resurrected for the Rugby Championship which begins this weekend.
But Owens, who retired in 2020 after refereeing 100 tests, disagrees with the move.
The Welshman wrote on Twitter that rugby ‘‘won’t have a game for fans to go to’’ unless it can ‘‘change [these] reckless/careless tackles that can cause serious head injury’’.
He said entertainment could not be put before player safety.
‘‘The deterrent to change player behaviour is much more effective if the team is down to 14 men for the rest of the game than if just for 20mins.
‘‘Drop the speeding fines a few quid and [get] 1 point on your licence and you wont [sic] be as careful keeping to the speed limit will you.’’
Owens’ views are at odds with Sanzaar boss Brendan Morris, who described the 20-minute rule approval as ‘‘a great decision for the Rugby Championship. ‘‘As a group we firmly believe the integrity of international matches is very important and that wherever possible matches must be a contest of 15 versus 15,’’ Morris said. Morris said Sanzaar felt the 20-minute red card was a significant deterrent to deliberate acts of foul play while not ruining the game’s spectacle.
However northern hemisphere organisations feel it’s dangerous and not enough of a punishment to drive behavioural and coaching change.
World Rugby voted against a global trial after the Super Rugby rule experiment.
That decision was greeted with disappointment by coach Dave Rennie.
England head coach Eddie Jones is another fan of the red card replacement rule.
He claimed during England’s test series with the Wallabies that rugby was ‘‘spiralling out of control’’ with a proliferation of red and yellow cards. Jones cited the case of All Blacks’ prop Angus Tava’ao, sent off off in the second test against Ireland for a clumsy but unintentional tackle which left Ireland’s Garry Ringrose with concussion.
But World Rugby chief Alan Gilpin claimed this year that the red card frenzy was protecting players.
Morris said Sanzaar will continue to champion the potential of the 20-minute red card replacement rule.
Wallabies