Nigel Owens: Referee should have ‘followed through’ with All Blacks star’s sanction after controversial dive
Quinn Tupaea dives for the ball during the All Blacks v Ireland Test match.
Nigel Owens believes that Quinn Tupaea should have been yellow-carded for his deliberate knock-on during New Zealand’s clash with Ireland at Eden Park in round three of the Nations Championship.
The former referee has explained that while the officials reached the correct decision in penalising the centre for his actions, they failed to punish the All Black sufficiently.
Tupaea dived in an attempt to intercept the ball in the 60th minute of the clash in Auckland when Ireland were on the attack, trying to fight their way back from a 35-14 point deficit.
Referee Nic Berry deemed that while the centre’s actions warranted a penalty he felt that the All Blacks had defenders on the outside and that a linebreak would not have occurred, meaning that Tupaea would not spend 10 minutes in the sin-bin.
All Black Quinn Tupaea should have been carded – Nigel Owens
Former Ireland captain Peter O’Mahony took issue with the decision and felt that the centre should have been sent to the sidelines for his actions and, speaking on World Rugby’s Whistle Watch with Lions legend Jamie Roberts, Owens agreed.
“So, he is off feet, gets a hand to it, taps it back actually into the Irish player that then ricochets off Quinn Tupaea’s head and there’s a line break opportunity. So, should this have been a yellow card?” Roberts questioned.
Owens replied: “When you’re going to go with a dive like that or whatever you do with one hand to try and get hold of that ball, there’s a high risk. If you get it right, and you get the ball back, you play on; but if you get it wrong, then you’re looking at a sanction.
“So in this instance, they quite rightly deemed it to be deliberate because he didn’t get the ball back. Now, if you look at it, there is a chance maybe you could have got that ball back, but because you run that risk and you didn’t get it back, then we move on to it being deemed to be a deliberate knock-on and a penalty.”
While Berry felt that there wouldn’t have been a linebreak for Ireland, Owens disagreed. “There was a clear line break here,” he said.
“If he doesn’t dive and gets that ball that is out, the Irish are all the way up towards the opposition try line. So, did they get the actual actions? That’s high risk. He didn’t get the ball. I’m sorry. It’s a penalty. Correct? Yes, but it should have been followed through with the yellow card because it’s a clear opportunity which is taken away by that deemed to be illegal action.”
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Ireland legend O’Mahony, meanwhile, was far more forthright in his assessment, describing it as a “crazy call” when appearing on Virgin Media’s coverage of the match.
“The one where the New Zealand 13 puts his hand out for an intercept, like he [the ref] is 10 feet from it, and we have a minute and a half of 48 different angles to see was he in position. He was never going to catch the ball,” the former flanker said.
“Why are we having this discussion? We are talking about a fast game; how is helping the game be a fast game when we have 90 seconds of dead play for you to miss something that is 10 feet in front of you that every person in the entire world can see? You don’t have to be at the ground to see that this is a crazy call.”
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“I have no idea why it wasn’t a yellow card because it was 100 per cent and out and out a line break for Tadhg Beirne. So, it is 100 per cent a yellow card. At a minimum, you are 30 yards up the field, a minimum. It is 100 per cent a yellow card… he has said he has a chance to catch this ball. What are we looking at? I’m sorry now, lads.”
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