Nigel Owens weighs in on Ruben Love’s yellow card: ‘The law is quite clear’
Ruben Love offside at a breakdown and an inset of Nigel Owens.
Nigel Owens says that the law around Ruben Love’s yellow card in the third Greatest Rivalry Test match is ‘quite clear’.
The All Blacks’ pivot was sent to the sin bin during the first half of the match at the FNB Stadium after referee Nika Amashukeli deemed that he was offside from a breakdown inside his own 22.
The sanction drew plenty of criticism on social media as the broadcast replays only showed instances where the fly-half was onside, with many coming to the conclusion that he was unfairly punished.
Nigel Owens’ take on Ruben Love’s yellow card
However, former international referee Owens believes that the referee rightly issued the yellow card, as it was at another breakdown in the All Blacks‘ 22 where the playmaker was in fact offside, which was detailed in this publication’s law discussion.
Earlier this week, head coach Dave Rennie also stated that it was a penalty after getting feedback from World Rugby, though he questioned whether it was deserving of further punishment.
Owens addressed the incident on World Rugby’s Whistle Watch program, where he explained that Amashukeli was initially playing an advantage for South Africa after All Blacks centre Quinn Tupaea was caught offside at a breakdown.
Love shoots out of the defensive line from an onside position to confront Jesse Kriel after South Africa moved the ball from that ruck, where many assumed the All Black was penalised, but Owens explained it was the next breakdown where he was sanctioned.
“What you have here is the referee playing an advantage because New Zealand’s number 13 [Tupaea] is offside at the ruck. Then Ruben Love shoots up.
“So you’ve got that quick ball and then he shoots off legally and you’re thinking, ‘Wow, he must have been offside, but he’s not’, but the referee wasn’t playing an advantage against Ruben Love there; he was playing against New Zealand’s 13.”
Springboks prop Ox Nche carries from the ensuing ruck and Love attempted to make a tackle on him but was unsuccessful; however, his action bought enough time for Damian McKenzie to hold up the front rower.
“Then, if you look at the next – and I don’t think the footage showed this at the time a lot of people discussing this and not seeing the next ruck – where Ruben Love is offside,” Owens continued.
“The law is quite clear here: the ruck is basically on the goal line. You cannot have your foot or hand in front of that goal line – you’ve got to be behind the goal line or behind the goal line. If you look at Ruben Love, he certainly has his foot clearly in front.
“So he is offside, and he makes the tackle – the referee quite rightly awards a yellow card for it.”
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Dave Rennie’s reaction
As mentioned above, Rennie was asked about the incident earlier this week and said that it was ‘definitely a penalty’.
“Ruben got a foot in front over the line, so that’s what the penalty is for,” he said during a press conference on Monday.
“It’s definitely a penalty based on the law.
“I think, if it had been off the first ruck, I can understand the yellow card, but I guess he’d yellow-carded one of their guys for a professional foul, so he’s consistent.”
READ MORE: Dave Rennie’s verdict on Ruben Love’s yellow card: ‘It’s definitely a penalty’
