Welsh Ref switches from blaming player(s) to blaming the ref

Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:26 pm

Not sure how comfortable I am with the best known recently retired ref in the world second guessing every big decision for the national papers

Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:30 pm

Jesus fucking Christ is Nigel going to be doing this every week?

Williams made the tackle, got up, then flew off his feet without going through the gate and deliberately slapped the ball forward about 5 metres. It's a messy ruck because players aren't in "standard" rucking mode but there's a welsh player and two French players on their feet in contact over the ball, and Liam just piles in from the side to do his thing.

It's not a bad decision. Except by Williams, obviously.

Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:36 pm

And presumably Nige is going to ignore that
- Pearce and Barnes f**ked up when Fra had scored (the incident which Fickou was complaining about just before Williams was carded)
- and that Pearce, truth be known, bottled carding Wyn Jones because it would have put Wales down to 12 players. IIRC, despite letting Jones off, he was the next player penalised at the scrum (collapsing)? And still not yellowed.

Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:38 pm

You just knew before he retired that Owens would go on to be a massive rent a quote bore after every international weekend.

Mon Mar 22, 2021 11:21 pm

After tonight I suggest Owens shuts TF up

Tue Mar 23, 2021 3:56 am

Someone has to take over throwing former colleagues under the bus and encouraging average Joes to do the same online and at their local pitch after Jonathan Kaplan stepped away from refereeing and then (as I haven't seen his criticisms in a while) his keyboard.

Tue Mar 23, 2021 11:07 am

S4C have started having refs in the stand commenting on decisions. I don't think they're 1Pro14 refs so they're not commenting on their opposite numbers and it's usually pretty anodyne stuff but it's not a good look.

Thu Mar 25, 2021 12:49 pm

Not too surprising that a lot of people on here don't like seeing a minority earn money.

Thu Mar 25, 2021 12:53 pm

There's some merit to Jutge weighing in after games on hugely controversial decisions since he's the WR reffing head honcho. Owens chiming in does not help the game, especially when he's disputing non-controversial incidents.

Thu Mar 25, 2021 1:02 pm

I have heard, but not seen, a claim there's other footage from behind the action (not side on) showing Dupont simply drops the ball and it's thus only a tackle from Williams. Certainly from the TV coverage I saw it looks a nailed on penalty and card, but there could be more to it. It perhaps isn't helpful for Owens to comment on refs like this, but it's possible he was trying to get people smashing Williams on social media to calm down and hasn't gone about that good intention as best he could.

Thu Mar 25, 2021 1:12 pm

Williams comes in from the side, flies off his feet, and slaps the ball forward out of Dupont's hands. I can't see how physically Dupont could've just dropped it for it to fly backwards 5m like that.

Thu Mar 25, 2021 2:41 pm

I agree, that's what it looks like to me, that Williams only grabs the ankle to pretend it's a tackle after going off his feet to slap the ball. I am merely noting I've heard there's other footage showing it's just a drop, which would partly explain Nigel's comments, but even then he's got to know the ref is so often going to go with what a picture looks like, as say happened to Itoje against Wales when Itoje didn't play the ball but got pinged for it all the same.

Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:20 pm

Margin__Walker wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:38 pm You just knew before he retired that Owens would go on to be a massive rent a quote bore after every international weekend.

You absolutely did. He has been whoring himself out on Twitter for after dinner speaking for years which didn't sit well, but maybe thats just the way it is these days.

Top bloke and top ref but you knew this was coming. Then again, does he have a profession to fall back on?

Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:29 pm

Slick wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:20 pm
Margin__Walker wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:38 pm You just knew before he retired that Owens would go on to be a massive rent a quote bore after every international weekend.
You absolutely did. He has been whoring himself out on Twitter for after dinner speaking for years which didn't sit well, but maybe thats just the way it is these days.

Top bloke and top ref but you knew this was coming. Then again, does he have a profession to fall back on?

Yeah, he was always likely to look to take advantage of his high profile and good luck to him. After dinner speaking, interviews, dancing on ice. Whatever.

That all seems fine. As others have mentioned, it's the running the rule over the controversial decisions of the weekend that I'm not a fan of. Especially with former colleagues when he's only just retired.

Thu Mar 25, 2021 8:11 pm

Slick wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:20 pm
Margin__Walker wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:38 pm You just knew before he retired that Owens would go on to be a massive rent a quote bore after every international weekend.
You absolutely did. He has been whoring himself out on Twitter for after dinner speaking for years which didn't sit well, but maybe thats just the way it is these days.

Top bloke and top ref but you knew this was coming. Then again, does he have a profession to fall back on?

He's a farmer. Dairy iirc

Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:34 pm

Margin__Walker wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:38 pm You just knew before he retired that Owens would go on to be a massive rent a quote bore after every international weekend.

Not just on rugby either, he's appearing on question time tonight.

Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:51 pm

Jockaline wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:34 pm
Margin__Walker wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:38 pm You just knew before he retired that Owens would go on to be a massive rent a quote bore after every international weekend.
Not just on rugby either, he's appearing on question time tonight.

Dear God, who's his agent?

Fri Mar 26, 2021 12:03 am

Slick wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:20 pm
Margin__Walker wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:38 pm You just knew before he retired that Owens would go on to be a massive rent a quote bore after every international weekend.
You absolutely did. He has been whoring himself out on Twitter for after dinner speaking for years which didn't sit well, but maybe thats just the way it is these days.

Top bloke and top ref but you knew this was coming. Then again, does he have a profession to fall back on?

I like Nige; & always thought he was a good Ref; but there's a long standing convention in the UK; that Doctors don't comment on the diagnosis of other Doctors; because it's unprofessional, to make a comment without being in full possession of all the facts. A number of other Professions follow the same convention, & for the same reason.

Undermining the work of other people, who are in a far better position to make judgements; is grossly unprofessional; because it undermines the professionalism of others.

Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:32 am

Slick wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:20 pm
Margin__Walker wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:38 pm You just knew before he retired that Owens would go on to be a massive rent a quote bore after every international weekend.
You absolutely did. He has been whoring himself out on Twitter for after dinner speaking for years which didn't sit well, but maybe thats just the way it is these days.

Top bloke and top ref but you knew this was coming. Then again, does he have a profession to fall back on?

Sad man that I am I was watching countryfile a few weeks ago and he was showing them around his dairy farm

Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:56 am

Countryfile is great.

Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:58 am

Every Sunday, love it.

Fri Mar 26, 2021 9:40 am

Jockaline wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:34 pm
Margin__Walker wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:38 pm You just knew before he retired that Owens would go on to be a massive rent a quote bore after every international weekend.
Not just on rugby either, he's appearing on question time tonight.

Saw that and thought this is the beeb trying way to hard. Same reason we have Gareth Thomas spouting sh*te interminably from our screens.

Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:45 am

fishfoodie wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 12:03 am
Slick wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:20 pm
Margin__Walker wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:38 pm You just knew before he retired that Owens would go on to be a massive rent a quote bore after every international weekend.
You absolutely did. He has been whoring himself out on Twitter for after dinner speaking for years which didn't sit well, but maybe thats just the way it is these days.

Top bloke and top ref but you knew this was coming. Then again, does he have a profession to fall back on?
I like Nige; & always thought he was a good Ref; but there's a long standing convention in the UK; that Doctors don't comment on the diagnosis of other Doctors; because it's unprofessional, to make a comment without being in full possession of all the facts. A number of other Professions follow the same convention, & for the same reason.

Undermining the work of other people, who are in a far better position to make judgements; is grossly unprofessional; because it undermines the professionalism of others.

WTF? So we don’t want former Rugby players commenting on current players either? You just want Jill Douglas and Graham Norton in the studio at half time?