Nigel Owens: Why the referee was right to ignore Maro Itoje’s pleas over Tadhg Furlong’s high shot on Tom Curry
Tadhg Furlong's hit on Tom Curry and an inset of ex-referee Nigel Owens.
Former referee Nigel Owens believes that the right decision was reached not to penalise Tadgh Furlong for his high shot on Tom Curry.
The incident occurred early in the second half of the Six Nations clash between England and Ireland at the Allianz Stadium in round three of the Championship when the hosts were trailing 22-7.
Ireland launched an attack but were stopped shortly before the England tryline, where Henry Pollock was deemed to have committed a cynical penalty and was duly yellow carded.
Maro Itoje perplexed by non-penalty call
However, TMO Matteo Liperini prompted referee Pierre Brousset – who had taken over from the injured Andrea Piardi – that a potential act of foul play had occurred at a breakdown earlier in the passage of play.
Prop Furlong had entered a ruck and made a head-high hit on Curry, who had also gone low into the breakdown, with the England flanker folding backwards as he went to ground.
Brousset reviewed the footage and ultimately deemed that it was ‘a rugby incident’ and didn’t even warrant a penalty, a decision that left Maro Itoje perplexed.
“The players are going in at the same time, it’s dynamic,” the French referee said to the England captain.
“Did he hit his head?” Itoje interrupted.
“He is not targeting there,” Brousset replied.
“But did he hit his head?” the captain replied.
“There is no foul play, it’s a rugby collision,” the referee said.
“So you agree, his head was hit,” Itoje said as the referee pressed for the game to continue.
Had Furlong been penalised, England would not have gone down a man, and their woes were compounded with Dan Sheehan scoring shortly after Pollock was sin-binned.
That try pushed Ireland into a 29-7 lead, and while England did manage to hit back through Ollie Lawrence, quick scores from Jack Crowley and Jamie Osborne sealed the victory for the visitors.
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Nigel Owens’ verdict on the incident
Owens has since weighed in on Furlong’s actions on World Rugby’s Whistle Watch show, where he was adamant that Brousset had reached the correct decision.
“Yeah, it was a rugby incident,” the former match official said.
“The two players just came in, nobody was doing anything illegal. Curry is down very low.
“Tadhg Furlong comes in to do what you would naturally do. He doesn’t have what we call a line of sight, where he can see where Curry is, but still carries on with this knowing that there’s a risk that he’s going to catch him in the head or something.
“So, it’s a complete rugby collision. We can do everything we can to make the game as safe as we possibly can, but at the end of the day, it is a collision sport, and sometimes collisions do happen.
“When you look at this, you’re going, ‘Oh my god, that looks bad,’ but it was just a rugby collision. So, there’s no foul play taking place because there was nothing anybody could have done to avoid what happened.”
Former Lions and Wales centre Jamie Roberts, chipped in saying, “Curry’s changing height late as well.”
“He’s down very, very low as well,” Owens replied.
“Now, if Furlong had plenty of time, Curry has gone down low.
“Furlong can then go, ‘I can see him, I know where he is, but I’m going to carry on’, then causes a head contact that’d be different. But in here, there’s nothing. All the dynamics happen so quickly. There’s nothing anyone can do to avoid what happens. And that’s what a rugby incident is.”
