Nigel Owens opens up on ‘hideous’ Bloodgate scandal and reveals the one thing he is ‘glad of’
The Bloodgate scandal as Nick Evans replaced Tom Williams and former Test referee Nigel Owens.
Former Test referee Nigel Owens has given his version of events of the Bloodgate scandal which rocked rugby union 16 years ago.
The Welshman was the official in charge of the Heineken Cup contest, which saw Leinster edge to a 6-5 victory over Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop in the quarter-finals.
It proved to be a hugely controversial contest as Quins used a capsule of fake blood to get former All Black Nick Evans back onto the field after earlier going off injured.
Fortunately, it did not end in a victory for the hosts with the Irish province moving into the next round, but there was still a massive fallout.
Lengthy bans
There were bans for the player involved, Tom Williams, the physio and director of rugby Dean Richards.
With Leinster taking on the Londoners in another knockout Champions Cup encounter, Owens looked back on that terrible day for the sport.
“If I’m honest, I had no inclination whatsoever that there was something untoward going on,” he wrote in his WalesOnline column.
“As the player trudged off, there was a bit of a kerfuffle on the side of the pitch that I obviously became aware of, but I only went over to check if Nick had been marked down as being substituted for a tactical reason rather than an injury.
“If he had been replaced and not substituted, then under no circumstances at all could he return.
“I was under no impression at all that there might be something dodgy going on. I saw a bit of the blood as he was walking off, but I didn’t think for one minute that it wouldn’t be genuine.
“Why would I? This had never happened before and there was no reason to suspect it might all be fake. There has to be an element of trust, after all.”
Owens then added: “From that point, I was not aware of anything until I came off the field after the game, which Leinster held on to win after Nick’s late drop goal attempt went wide.
“As I headed to the changing rooms, there was a big furore in the tunnel, lots of shouting and swearing, and there were people banging on my door, they all wanted to know what was going to happen.
“I was thinking ‘What the hell is going on here?’. It was only then that I was updated on what had actually happened, and I just had to say that the match commissioner and governing body would sort it out. I could only give my report of what I had seen happen.”
Owens’ Bloodgate jersey
Despite the shame it brought on Harlequins, the Heineken Cup and the sport as a whole, Owens insisted that he bore no grudge towards those involved.
“All told, it was a hideous mess that brought the game into disrepute. I don’t think I could have done anything differently on the day, however – it was something that caught all of us off guard.
“I refereed Harlequins the following season and Tom apologised to me then, but I said to him that there was no need for the apology.
“In fact, he signed the referee jersey I was wearing during the Bloodgate match, as did I, and it’s now displayed in my local rugby club, Pontyberem RFC.
“One thing I am glad of, however, is that Leinster held on to win that game. If Quins had gone on to win, we’d probably still have lawyers arguing over it to this day and it would have all been very complicated, with not much time between that game and the semi-final.”
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