Legendary rugby referee Nigel Owens feels Eben Etzebeth was “very, very lucky” to not be penalised for his try-saving intervention in South Africa’s dramatic win over France last week. France looked on their way to extending their 7-0 lead when Etzebeth made a risky attempt at an intercept and he managed to knock the ball down.
The match officials ruled that the ball had gone backwards so the Springbok star avoided being penalised for a knock-on. That was one of several decisions the French team were furious about after the match and Owens can understand their frustration.
“We haven’t put this one under the deliberate knock-on category because although Etzebeth’s actions in that great game in Paris between France and South Africa, he is very, very lucky because he goes with one hand out,” Owens explained on World Rugby’s Whistle Watch. “There’s no way now he’s going to catch this ball, so what he tries to do is knock the ball backwards, which is legal, as long as you knock the ball backwards.
“If he’d have made contact with that ball and that ball had gone forward, then it would have been a deliberate knock-on and a pretty certain yellow card as well.”
He added: “There’s a lot of debate about this; some of you are saying, ‘Well, I think it’s gone forward,’ and some of you saying, ‘No, I think it’s gone backwards’. And it really is a very, very difficult one; it’s impossible to see 100 per cent, to put your house on it, has it forward or has it gone back.
“So the referee looks at this, and I have to say, I tend to agree with the referee here because it’s very difficult to say that it’s gone forward or gone back so the referee’s view, and the TMO’s view, is that the ball went backwards or certainly didn’t go clearly forward and therefore we have a play on. But remember, he’s very, very lucky if that goes forward, it’s a pretty certain penalty and yellow card.”
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France captain Antoine Dupont was one of the most vocal about Ben O’Keeffe’s performance in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final. Dupont wanted answers regarding the officiating as he felt it was not up to the required standard.
He said: “Well, what did you think of it? It’s hard to talk about things because there is a lot of disappointment, a lot of frustration.
“There were a few clear things where the whistle wasn’t blown. I don’t want to be a bad loser and moan about the refereeing but I’m not sure the level of refereeing was up the level of the game today.”
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