RWC FINAL - Referee Confirmed

First topic message reminder :

As we all thought - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-3290028/Nigel-Owens-named-referee-weekend-s-Rugby-World-Cup-final.html

Before reading George, I was going to say a dedicated thread to the ref that will take on the WC final...before the final itself............ well it says it all really about the Professional nature of modern fandom.

We turn every blessed blade of grass into a game where we can root for the blade that has the little kink in it a half inch down from the tip.... or boo the blade that seems to be a little taller than the four others beside it.

Everything is a game of Yea or Nay.  Place you bets!!!  Phone in to vote!!!

Wow - after all the high and mighty sneering of the Scottish and NH about not respecting a ref who completely bottled a game from the SH media (and fans) - and the look how great we are moral supremacy garbage we have had to put up with


is anyone else seeing the ironic nature of this BEFORE the game

No?? non?? Just me then

:-)

Blimey: "The rest of the furore about Owens is like smelling someone else's farts - both pointless and generally unpleasant.|" ...says one of our Moderators. What on earth would an Immoderator have said??

Having trawled through this thread, the summary appears to be that Owens will have had a good game in the eyes of all provided he makes no decisions, frequently refers to the TMO while ignoring the TMO, plays the advantage while whistling for every offence, and gives exactly the same number of decisions in favour of both sides unless any of the players or spectators disagrees with any of his calls. What can possibly go wrong?

Poor bloke - give him a break: he's a decent ref and a decent feller, let's just give him a chance, shall we?

Fanster wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Yup, he lets you get away with more. Generally consistently not bothering about the actual laws for both sides though!

The fear is that it won't be for both sides.

I'm baffled, all this vitriol for the ref for not whistling 7 times per ruck, 11 times per scrum and reviewing 18 angles from the TMO whenever theres a decision to be made?!

You all realise that the breakdown and scrums are meant to be contested? The southern hemisphere have trends of subtly sealing off attacking rucks, and working their way on the wrong side in D, Nigel Owens is the canniest ref around when when it comes to the breakdown.

It's pretty much deserved, and I for one congratulate him, he's probably been the best ref in the world for 3/4 years now, everyone involved in the game loves the guy, and games are regularly high uality when he's in charge.

I think you've missed my point, Fanster. I'm not saying Owens is a bad ref - only a fool would say that, as the song goes - and it's not necessarily a bad thing that he lets minor things go at the breakdown if it leads to a more open and less stop-start game; what I'm saying is that I hope that, if one side is getting pinged for certain infringements on Saturday, the other side is also pinged when it commits the same infringements. Consistency and even-handedness is all anyone wants.

A well deserved appointment , hope it all goes well for Nigel  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06hh344/nigel-owens-true-to-myself


"Anybody can go out on the field and blow a whistle. I'm afraid if you do that you won't have a game. Some people go out and try not to blow the whistle and let too much go and that destroys the game. You have to get the balance in between and that is what's the most difficult' I'd love to see some of the critics on here have a go