Nigel Owens slams lack of TMO intervention after Scotland gouging accusation
Alleged gouging incident in Scotland v France clash and former Test referee Nigel Owens.
Former Test referee Nigel Owens was left ‘disappointed’ after an alleged eye gouging incident was not looked at by the television match official.
Midway through the second half of Scotland’s 50-40 victory over France in the Six Nations Championship, the hosts set up a maul.
Ewan Ashman was at the back with the Scots driving towards the opposition tryline when Oscar Jegou’s fingers were placed around the eye area of the replacement hooker.
Before Graham’s try
Darcy Graham would go on to score a try in that passage of play, but Scotland wanted the alleged gouge incident looked at.
The TMO either felt the accusation did not warrant another look or did not notice anything on the replay, but the incident was seen by those watching on TV.
“It definitely should have been looked at. It doesn’t look good to be honest. Looking at that footage, that player is going to be in a bit of trouble,” Owens said on the BBC.
“There are processes in place now to deal with that but it should have been looked at in the game. It was quite clear what the actions were.
“It was a great game of rugby and it didn’t matter in the context of the game but on another day, where the score’s tight, things like this are the ones you really want the TMO to come in – the clear and obvious.
“Even if they have a look at it and then decide we can’t really see from the footage.”
Could still be cited
Jegou could well be cited and subsequently banned, but Owens was left frustrated that the incident was missed during the Six Nations game.
“I don’t understand. Obviously, the TMO will be looking, he will have all this footage – probably more than we’re seeing here – and when you look at that, you’ve got to bring it to the referee’s attention,” he said.
“A Scottish player went over and did say to the referee, ‘something happened here, we need to have a look at it’, and I think the referee said: ‘There’s a process in place and if we couldn’t pick it up, they will look at it after in the citing process’.
“But if you’ve got clear footage like that, that’s what you want the TMO to come in for. Based on that clear and obvious, you want to pick those things up. It’s disappointing that it wasn’t picked up.
“Would they have seen enough evidence to deal with it with a red card? Who knows, but it certainly should have been looked at, and it doesn’t look good to be honest.”
