Nigel Owens’ plea to the players after Kurt-Lee Arendse the latest to be punished for ‘dangerous’ croc roll

Respected ex-Test referee Nigel Owens has urged all rugby players to adapt to the new law around the croc roll in aid of protecting the safety of the individuals.

Springboks flyer Kurt-Lee Arendse was the latest high-profile player to be punished for the now-outlawed breakdown technique during Saturday’s game against Portugal.

Arendse was sent to the sin-bin, with the incident then reviewed by an independent official in the bunker, but it remained a yellow card.

Fortunate Doris

A week earlier, Ireland’s Caelan Doris also escaped a red following a nasty croc roll which left Boks hooker Malcolm Marx with a broken leg.

Owens described Doris as being “very lucky” not to be spending the rest of the match on the sidelines.

“Last week, remember we highlighted the actions of the croc roll on Malcolm Marx in the game against Ireland and it could have easily been a red card,” the 53-year-old said on World Rugby’s Whistle Watch.

“Here again the clear message to the players is to get out of the habit of doing those croc rolls. They are dangerous, they are also illegal, we don’t want to see them in the game.

“Let’s get it out of the game and let’s make the game as safe as we possibly can.”

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Owens did delve deeper into the incident with Arendse after the wing was sin-binned for his croc roll on Portugal full-back Simao Bento.

Unlike Marx, it did not injure Bento fortunately, and the ex-match official felt that the yellow card was the correct call in this instance.

‘Sufficient on this occasion’

“Everybody has been discussing the croc roll since we brought in [a law] to make it illegal, because it’s a dangerous action in the game which you don’t want to see,” Owens said.

“We do have a grasp and we do have a twist of a croc roll action which brings him to the ground, so therefore we reach the threshold of a yellow card.

“It then goes to the bunker. Just remember, just like head contact, just like a high tackle, just like any foul play, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a red card. You have to look at the actual facts and actually what happens.

“In this instance, we do have foul play, we do have the croc roll, it goes to the bunker, they feel that it doesn’t reach the threshold of a red card.

“It is foul play, it is a croc roll, it is dangerous but a yellow card is sufficient on this occasion.”

READ MORE: Nigel Owens: Ireland duo ‘very, very lucky’ to avoid more cards for Malcolm Marx clear-out