Nigel Owens claims All Blacks star was ‘very lucky’ to escape sanction after injuring Cheslin Kolbe
All Blacks' lock Tupou Vaa'i's tackle on Cheslin Kolbe and an inset of the All Blacks' lock smiling.
Former referee Nigel Owens believes that All Blacks forward Tupou Vaa’i was ‘very lucky’ not to be sin-binned for his no-arms tackle on Springboks winger Cheslin Kolbe.
In the 45th minute of the match, Kolbe launched a counterattack after a kicking duel between the two sides, with the Bok flyer charging infield, speeding past the likes of Damian McKenzie and Jordie Barrett.
However, Vaa’i came in to make the tackle on the winger near the halfway line but failed to use his arms as he hit Kolbe, who bounced off the lock before being chopped down by replacement tighthead prop Fletcher Newell.
Referee Nika Amashukeli spotted the tackle and gave the Springboks advantage, but a turnover from Wallace Sititi at the ensuing breakdown halted the attack. The Georgian referee initially gave a penalty for a tackle off the ball by Tamaiti Williams on Ruan Nortje, and while Vaa’i’s tackle was reviewed in the background, it was not deemed worthy of further punishment, with the second incident occurring further up the pitch.
Tupou Vaa’i tackle on Cheslin Kolbe
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi did quiz the referee about the tackle with Amashukeli, who replied, “It’s a blame game happening the whole game… It’s a nice physical game. It’s not clear and obvious. No issue.”
Kolbe, who scored twice before the incident, was forced off the pitch to undergo an HIA assessment and would not return to the action, with scrum-half Grant Williams finishing the match on the wing.
Former All Black Justin Marshall, who was commenting on the match, remarked: “There was no head contact there, it was all shoulder on ball, and yes, he didn’t wrap his arms, but it wasn’t a high shot, so he must have suffered that elsewhere.”
Ex-Test ref Owens addressed the tackle in the latest episode of World Rugby’s Whistle Watch, where he said that the All Blacks‘ lock was fortunate not to be sin-binned for his actions, which could have been the case with another official on another day.
“Imagine you’re running at me with a ball, and for some reason, I’m sort of bracing myself to sort of take your impact, then that doesn’t mean that I’ve led with a shoulder; then it means it wouldn’t be foul play,” he told show co-host Ugo Monye.
“But in this instance here, the player is making a no-arms tackle or leading with a shoulder. So, it is foul play. The match officials have seen that it’s foul play, and they deemed that it was just a penalty.
“He was lucky, I think, on many other occasions he could well have landed up with a yellow card.
“It’s one of those that if you feel that it reached the yellow card threshold, was dangerous enough for a yellow card, you would give it. If you felt that it did not reach that yellow card threshold, as the team officials on the day you felt it didn’t, then they would give just a penalty.
“But yeah, I would say he was a bit lucky here. I would say on the other occasions, this could well have been a yellow card.”
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Jasper Wiese’s hit on Finlay Christie
Prior to Vaa’i’s tackle on Kolbe, All Blacks’ replacement number nine Finlay Christie looked to have copped a high shot from Jasper Wiese.
The clear-out was not officially reviewed by the officials, but Moyne asked whether the officials would have checked it in the background.
Owens replied: “Yeah, it certainly would be, but it’s difficult to say really.
If the team of officials on the field don’t see something or they may have a doubt about something, they could well initiate a trigger to the TMO to have a look at something or the TMO will check it himself.
“So what would have happened here is the TMO will be checking in the background, and then for him, he doesn’t have enough evidence to say that there is clear head contact, and therefore they won’t be calling in the foul play.
“You also look at the actions of the tackler who is going low as well. The player is moving away from it, the ball carrier as he passes, he’s moving away from the action.
“So, there are a lot of things here of dynamics and movement as well. Do we have clear head contact? No, we don’t. That is the footage that the TMO will be looking at in the background, clearing it up. Hence why we don’t have head contact and foul play.”
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