Nigel Owens: 20-minute red cards ‘totally wrong’ and ‘papers over the cracks’

Colin Newboult

14 Apr 2022 11:05 AM

2EEF7B9 Rugby Union - Rugby World Cup 2019 - Pool C - England v Argentina - Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo, Japan - October 5, 2019 Argentina's Tomas Lavanini is shown a red card by referee Nigel Owens REUTERS/Issei Kato

Former leading international referee Nigel Owens has criticised the idea of the 20-minute red card after World Rugby suggested that it might be trialled globally.

It is currently being used in Super Rugby and is supported by a number of coaches in the southern hemisphere, but critics are concerned that it will lead to more foul play and undermine the player welfare cause.

There have been a spate of red cards in Super Rugby Pacific recently, including four in five games two weeks ago, but World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin would still like to see it trialled in more competitions.

“It would be great if more competitions, even in a closed trial, would use it because that would give us more of an overview of the effect it would have on the game,” Gilpin told the Telegraph.

“We need to see more of the data to see whether that strikes the balance between safety and spectacle better.

“There is more work to do to analyse that and the concern is, if a team goes back to 15 players, is that enough of a deterrent to drive that behavioural change.

“We would like to see it trialled more widely before drawing any conclusions.”

There are also those in the north, including Rob Baxter, Alex Sanderson and Pat Lam, who have all lent their support for the law.

But Owens, who was one of the game’s leading officials until his retirement from international refereeing in 2020, disagrees and believes it could cause significant problems for the sport going forward.

Rugby will be in trouble

“The part which I don’t understand is that you will hear talk about players being unlucky to be sent off, and that therefore you need a 20-minute card as a solution,” he wrote in the Telegraph.

“Well, my response would be that if a player is unlucky to be sent off, then he shouldn’t be sent off.

“Governing bodies need to stay strong on those acts of recklessness and thuggery. We have already seen how strict policing of certain offences can lead to change with tip tackles over a decade ago. There has been a total change of behaviour from players and those acts are now very rare.

“The last thing the sport needs is a situation where a player runs in and headbutts an opponent in the opening minutes, only for the offender to then be replaced 20 minutes later by a substitute. In situations like that, your team does not deserve to go back to 15 players.

“Make a clear decision between whether foul play is accidental or reckless and then award the appropriate yellow or red card.

“A 20-minute red card merely papers over the cracks. It is totally wrong, and if we go down that route then rugby is going to be in trouble.”