Nigel Owens

I think he can be considered one of the Worlds best ref's.

His contribution to yesterdays wonderful game was enormous.

Is it because Owens is so good the players did not try to con him / cheat which also contributed tothe spectacle?

didn't beast call him! yes Mr ref! yes Mr ref!!!

Outstanding performance.... Only once did I think he make the wrong call when he pinged Kruger for stepping out of line for a second and then jumped back in..... Otherwise faultless.

When he dealt with the team sheet issue he showed his class... I don't care, let the IRb deal with it at the end of the match if needs be.. JDV showed real sportsmanship there too.

You know when the ref needs physio intramatch it's been a helper skeleton match.

That caused a huge laugh in our house.

Owens had a great game

He could easily have been in line to ref the 2015 RWC final, but Wales will be in the final

It was a very good performance by Owens, but let's hold back on calling anyone the best referee in the world, I have seen it takes only one poor performance from a referee and suddenly he is touted as the worst.

Was Owens job made easier, in fact, by the positive attitude of both teams?

Fantastic performance by Owens. After watching two potentially excellent Rabo games (Munster\Leinster and Ospreys\Ulster) spoiled by substandard reffing Owens performance was a breath of fresh air.

[quote="Biltong"]It was a very good performance by Owens, but let's hold back on calling anyone the best referee in the world, I have seen it takes only one poor performance from a referee and suddenly he is touted as the worst.[/quote]
My post said "One of the best" Bilt

Owens has been in the top 3 worlds best for about 5 years now. Hell of a guy, what with reffing, his talks at schools and rugby clubs as well as being a bit of a stand up comedian, TV presenter and fluent Welsh speaker.

I would have also imagined had the teams not being positive he would have yellowed a few more, as world class refs do.

Allty wrote:

Biltong wrote: It was a very good performance by Owens, but let's hold back on calling anyone the best referee in the world, I have seen it takes only one poor performance from a referee and suddenly he is touted as the worst.

My post said "One of the best" Bilt

No worries Allty, I just think back to the fall of Craig Joubert, lauded as the best referee in world rugby, and one game in the RWC final now everyone sees him as biased, incompetent, and worthless.

Assessments of referees are as subjective as our individual views at a breakdown.

nobody is ever 100% correct or unbiased.

I'd say Nigel has beem consistently brilliant for some time

Was Joubert bad in the RWC final? Huh, didn't even realise. Still the incumbent best for me but Owens is up there now after the last couple of outings I've seen.

One thing I liked in the weekend was that he seemed to not blow up at the breakdown incessantly. Some refs are really quick to blow for not releasing but he seemed to give the team 'with' the ball more chance to recycle. Maybe it was partly the players and partly his style.

Biltong wrote:

Allty wrote:

Biltong wrote: It was a very good performance by Owens, but let's hold back on calling anyone the best referee in the world, I have seen it takes only one poor performance from a referee and suddenly he is touted as the worst.

My post said "One of the best" Bilt

No worries Allty, I just think back to the fall of Craig Joubert, lauded as the best referee in world rugby, and one game in the RWC final now everyone sees him as biased, incompetent, and worthless.

Assessments of referees are as subjective as our individual views at a breakdown.

nobody is ever 100% correct or unbiased.

http://viscount.typepad.com/a_viscount_speaks/2010/04/another-corrupt-performance-by-nigel-owens.html

Agree, you just have to google any ref and you find some form of harsh criticism of them. None are immune from it.

for those that didn't know.

this is what Nigel Owens had to say about the game.

“That was the greatest game of rugby I have ever had the privilege to referee. Huge credit to both teams for showing what rugby is all about. Thank you all too for your kind messages. Really does mean a lot. “

That's pretty cool, thanks for sharing

To be honest Joubert fell out of favour not because anything was wrong with his refereeing, but because the result of the game wasn't to the liking of sections of the global rugby audience. 

Check for example partisan rugby journalist Stephen Jones who's after game article reluctantly congratulated NZ on winning. It took him two weeks before he "realised" that he thought anything was wrong with Joubert's performance and his first vitriolic anti-Joubert referee conspiracy nonsense started churning out.

GloriousEmpire wrote:To be honest Joubert fell out of favour not because anything was wrong with his refereeing, but because the result of the game wasn't to the liking of sections of the global rugby audience. 

Check for example partisan rugby journalist Stephen Jones who's after game article reluctantly congratulated NZ on winning. It took him two weeks before he "realised" that he thought anything was wrong with Joubert's performance and his first vitriolic anti-Joubert referee conspiracy nonsense started churning out.

Well that is kinda the point I was making, nobody is above biased views.

hence opinions on Referees are dependant on which side of the fence one sits. there are the howlers where everyone is in agreement, but those are few and far between.

Some fairly hateful homophobic language in that criticism of Owens from the English poster linked too. Not good stuff.

GloriousEmpire wrote:Some fairly hateful homophobic language in that criticism of Owens from the English poster linked too. Not good stuff.

Would like to see him use language like that face to face with Gareth Thomas.

GloriousEmpire wrote:To be honest Joubert fell out of favour not because anything was wrong with his refereeing, but because the result of the game wasn't to the liking of sections of the global rugby audience. 

Check for example partisan rugby journalist Stephen Jones who's after game article reluctantly congratulated NZ on winning. It took him two weeks before he "realised" that he thought anything was wrong with Joubert's performance and his first vitriolic anti-Joubert referee conspiracy nonsense started churning out.

Yawn...GE rewrites history..

Very good Ref and has been the best for sometime imo.

The players respect him too which helps.

Great performance from a very good ref. They all have bad days every so often so it's good to see the praise also. Wish he could ref all the England games, even those against Wales!

Owens has been superb for a few seasons now, but he has built up a reputation for taking no nonsense, in that respect the players know exactly where they stand and are generally better behaved than they would be with other ref's.

I havn't seen the game only highlights, so can only take peoples opinions on it, I had no doubt before that he would allow a spectacle, he is generally adament the game is played for fans, and all ref's should be aware they have a duty to the viewing public as well as the rule book.

Strengely wasn't GE bemoaning a dull NH ref beforehand? Anything to add mate?

With regards to Jouberts performance in the final, it was awfull not in the sense he gave one side favour, but because he allowed the occasion of the final, and the pressure of a huge public outcry for NZ to win to get to him and effect his performance. I would however put his performance on par with the majority of sub standard performing NZ players in that final, they won but were comprehensively outplayed by a lesser team who outplayed them on the day.

Strengely wasn't GE bemoaning a dull NH ref beforehand? Anything to add mate?

  Touche

I am always the first to put up my hand when I'm wrong.

Aside from one or two debatable calls he had an excellent game.

Diversity eh?

GloriousEmpire wrote:I am always the first to put up my hand when I'm wrong.

Aside from one or two debatable calls he had an excellent game.

Diversity eh?

Whats diverse about him? His nationality? which Hemisphere he hails from? The colour of his skin? his background in the sport? or were you eluding to his sexuality?

Yep. Diversity of all kinds. 

Imagine if he'd been excluded on the basis of being gay. Now if we can discount that and the sport can prosper doesn't it make you wonder how much better it might be if some other traditionally under represented demographics had their chance?

Always rated Nigel Owens as a ref, hes not whistle happy and has a good attitude when it comes to dealing with players, no nonsense and he has the best interest of the game in mind.

Just a shame he cant officiate Wales' matches and we're left with potential terrible referees like George Clancy.

GloriousEmpire wrote:Yep. Diversity of all kinds. 

Imagine if he'd been excluded on the basis of being gay.

Is this where you once again misinform us about the NZRU? It would certainly fit with your previous posting history to claim that they are leading the way in the campaign against homophobia in rugby.

Israel Dagg's "fag" insult a few months ago seems to be one indication of the current team's awareness of diversity.

Pack in the insults chaps

So let's discuss this like adults.

"Fag" in NZ colloquial terms is not a homophobic derogatory term. In the same way that "w***ker" is not an insult in America. In fact it appeared in Married with Children and Friends on prime time US TV. Also the cultural difference between interpretations of what constitutes a "fanny". 

In NZ calling someone a "fag" is just a light weight insult or even term if endearment amongst mates. 

I realise in the UK it's used as a homophobic pejorative term.

Cultural differences are important to understand.

I was under the impression Fag means cigarette.

Interestingly the term derives from "faget" the powerful nazi symbolism of the power of the unity of the collective, represented by a tightly bound bundle of sticks (as revisited in Rise of The Planet of the Apes). More interestingly you can see this symbol rendered on the frontages of many many central london historical buildings surviving then blitz, so wrapped was Britains collective money holders by the power of nazism during the appeasement era. The pejoratism of the term faget as faggot being a snide term implying homosexuality was one of the first government instigated acts of spin, reinterpreting the bundled sticks as bound phalluses.

IronMike wrote:Always rated Nigel Owens as a ref, hes not whistle happy and has a good attitude when it comes to dealing with players, no nonsense and he has the best interest of the game in mind.

Just a shame he cant officiate Wales' matches and we're left with potential terrible referees like George Clancy.

I honestly don't think Clancy is a bad ref by any stretch of the imagination , He might throw a card out with less hesitation than most but that's he's way of leaving a stamp on the game.

GloriousEmpire wrote:So let's discuss this like adults.

"Fag" in NZ colloquial terms is not a homophobic derogatory term. In the same way that "w***ker" is not an insult in America. In fact it appeared in Married with Children and Friends on prime time US TV. Also the cultural difference between interpretations of what constitutes a "fanny". 

In NZ calling someone a "fag" is just a light weight insult or even term if endearment amongst mates. 

I realise in the UK it's used as a homophobic pejorative term.

Cultural differences are important to understand.

No
Fag is definately a homophobic derogatory term in NZ.

Shhhhhhh!

GE, you're pathetic.

On other threads you use race to score points. Now you're using sexual preference.

Really classy.

Quite why the mods continue to turn a blind eye to your antics is beyond me.

Biltong wrote:for those that didn't know.

this is what Nigel Owens had to say about the game.

“That was the greatest game of rugby I have ever had the privilege to referee. Huge credit to both teams for showing what rugby is all about. Thank you all too for your kind messages. Really does mean a lot. “

Was wondering what Owens thought about it. Mustve been tough for him too getting cramp himself at the end.

Cyril wrote:GE, you're pathetic.

On other threads you use race to score points. Now you're using sexual preference.

Really classy.

Quite why the mods continue to turn a blind eye to your antics is beyond me.

Me and my - shaaaaaadow...

Cyril im sure the forum would be improved if you contributed something, anything, rather than following me around like a lost puppy yapping at everything I contribute.

He has a point. You made a series of sly references towards the IRB Elite Ref panel concerning race and now saying fag is a term of endearment. Stick to wumming about rugby.

Gents let's not start to name call please.

biltong, is it possible for the mods to do anything about this poster who thinks it's ok to use race and sexual preference as a way to score points against other nations?

It's not really what the forum is about is it?

It's the constant drip-drip of bile, sly digs and xenophobic comments that makes this a pretty unpleasant place at times.

best ignored. Don't feed the trolls.

TJ, he posts so frequently and so many articles it's almost impossible to ignore.

In any case, it shouldn't just be a case of ignoring. Why is no action being taken to stop him from posting the material that he does? It's often unpleasant and downright offensive.

Ok, Cyril, for the sake of objectivity.

Let's look at GE's comments on this thread.

GE wrote:Was Owens job made easier, in fact, by the positive attitude of both teams?

Nothing wrong there.

GE wrote:To be honest Joubert fell out of favour not because anything was wrong with his refereeing, but because the result of the game wasn't to the liking of sections of the global rugby audience.

Check for example partisan rugby journalist Stephen Jones who's after game article reluctantly congratulated NZ on winning. It took him two weeks before he "realised" that he thought anything was wrong with Joubert's performance and his first vitriolic anti-Joubert referee conspiracy nonsense started churning out.

I suppose you could find something wrong in his comment using Partisan journalist, but then I have heard that comment a million times by many posters.

GE wrote:Some fairly hateful homophobic language in that criticism of Owens from the English poster linked too. Not good stuff.

Having read the first paragraph of that link suggests GE is not far from the mark.

GE wrote:I am always the first to put up my hand when I'm wrong.

Aside from one or two debatable calls he had an excellent game.

Diversity eh?

Butterfingers took exception to the word Diversity, can't say why though. The comment in itself can be interpreted how you want, but nothing breaking house rules there.

GE wrote:Yep. Diversity of all kinds.

Imagine if he'd been excluded on the basis of being gay. Now if we can discount that and the sport can prosper doesn't it make you wonder how much better it might be if some other traditionally under represented demographics had their chance?

Why is that comment offensive? He is advocating any type of minority group not to be excluded.

GE wrote:So let's discuss this like adults.

"Fag" in NZ colloquial terms is not a homophobic derogatory term. In the same way that "w***ker" is not an insult in America. In fact it appeared in Married with Children and Friends on prime time US TV. Also the cultural difference between interpretations of what constitutes a "fanny".

In NZ calling someone a "fag" is just a light weight insult or even term if endearment amongst mates.

I realise in the UK it's used as a homophobic pejorative term.

Cultural differences are important to understand

Rugby fan brought up the word Fag, Ge explained in his unique way what Fag meant in New Zealand, he also admitted that in the UK it is a derogatory term. Why he felt the need to pursue the subject is of course another question.

Nganboy corrected GE and said Fag is a derogatory term. So again the question begs why GE pursued discussing the term.

GE.

I find it perplexing why you like to antagonise posters. I often wonder whether you are here to irritate posters and find joy in making subjective comments to entice argument rather than debate.

You never outright break house rules, but you do enjoy a good fight, you also do enjoy putting the boot in when someone reacts negatively to your WUMS.

Guys.

I suggest the best way to deal with GE when he s searching for his light entertainment for the day is to ignore him.

Jus bypass his comments that you deem disingenuous or insincere and respond only to those you believe is there to encourage positive debate.

biltong, it seems that GE got a stern warning when he was criticising SA recently, but everyone else is fair game (and we should just ignore him). Could you explain why this is the case please?

Cyril, go read that thread, then compare the two.

Boo hoo, GE says something contentious and I have to get involved and offended by it. Is this site populated by children?

Biltong wrote:Cyril, go read that thread, then compare the two.

I've read it. What am I comparing it with? Every other thread where he has his anti-English, anti-Northern Hemisphere, xenophobic hat on?