Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Referee Nigel Owens takes a tumble at Soccer City

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Referee Nigel Owens takes a tumble at Soccer City

Yesterday’s Tri Nations clash was packed with intensity as the Springboks and All Blacks battled it out in front of 94 000 fans. No inch was given and poor old Nigel Owens found that out the hard way as he got bundled over in a nasty collision.

As the second half approached, Jimmy Cowan made a dart off the back of a maul and as Bok flanker Juan Smith came across to close down the space, Owens got a shove in the back as he got in Smith’s way.

Unfortunately referee Owens ended up in the middle of the tackle, with Cowan and Schalk Burger landing on the Welshman in what looked like a pretty messy position.

Luckily Owen’s was tough enough to get through it and his neck wasn’t damaged, despite a short delay and needing to be attended to by a team medic.

- In other news, it’s since been reported that Dan Carter will undergo ankle surgery and will be out for eight weeks. He has been carrying the injury throughout the tournament and has opted to have an operation now after he said it was affecting his ankle movement.

- Francois Steyn looks likely to rejoin the Springbok team after he played a full eighty minutes for Racing Metro in the Top 14 last night. Steyn had been in South Africa but was supposedly injured, so went back to France.

If there are any incidents that you've seen over the weekend that you'd like featured here on Rugbydump, please post a request on the forum or send an email. That includes Tri Nations, Top 14, ITM Cup, and Currie Cup rugby.

:: Related Posts ::
Nigel Owens - Behind the whistle

i cant watch the video as im sitting here in germany is there any possibility to watch it somewhere else?

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 12:59 pm
the video isn't available :"(

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 1:16 pm
its not working for me in Australia either

By 2020, at August 22, 2010 1:32 pm
Its been removed.

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 1:46 pm
Been removed due to violation :(

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 1:48 pm
Removed... :'(

By Sayco, at August 22, 2010 1:49 pm
i don't like this referee, but his reaction was perfect after a such fall

video of the action here:

http://www.scrrs.net/video-clips/referee-nigel-owens-bowled-over-during-test-match/

By Flooz, at August 22, 2010 2:12 pm
couln't watch it either,but i'm going to add that i think owens is a very poor referee,very full of himself,he's one of those referees who usually make the game all about them(although he wasnt too bad yesterday)

By Leeners93, at August 22, 2010 3:13 pm
thanks Flooz

on a different note the South African 7 should get a 5 week ban for pushing him over. We have to be consistant, Brian Mujati was done for something similar last year

By Citing Commissioner, at August 22, 2010 4:03 pm
The stadium was renamed after the Fifa WC. It is now the 'National Stadium'

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 4:39 pm
Sorry about the clip guys - I stuck it up then went out for a bit. I'll get another version up asap

By GMC, at August 22, 2010 5:49 pm
Gotta love YouTube's Nazi terms of use...

By Jake, at August 22, 2010 6:14 pm
Back up, this time with NZ commentary. Enjoy :)

By GMC, at August 22, 2010 6:19 pm
I think Smith shouldbe in trouble there. I know ref's get in the way we all encounter it sometimes, but you still shouldn't physically touch them, no matter how good/bad they are!

By Fridge, at August 22, 2010 6:22 pm
not the first time i've seen someone use the ref to their advantage. i remember a clip of a guy who got himself isolated and then deliberately threw the ball at the ref so he was forced to blow for a scrum and therefore avoided the inevitable turnover.

By Chris Boy, at August 22, 2010 6:36 pm
Oh, what do you know? It all resulted from the usual sportsmanship of the ABs: playing the refs. This time more so literally than ever before.

By Jake, at August 22, 2010 7:00 pm
@ citing com above

I think Smith didn't do much wrong..

Cowan used the ref so he couldn't get tackled by Smith!!

If the ref gets between the player and his defender, it's his own mistake, a little shove is nothing to get upset about! And as you could see, neither the ref, nor any player got upset

By Cheis, at August 22, 2010 8:11 pm
I love how Schalk is oblivious and digs for the ball after making the tackle...

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 8:49 pm
Number 7 used the ref to help tackle the All Black. He pushed the ref right into the All Black player. He didn't just push him out of the way.
Funny as hell but if Smith doesn't get a citing or something...

By Stubby, at August 22, 2010 9:33 pm
Caraca !!! quase mataram o arbitro...

By vilmar freitas, at August 22, 2010 9:44 pm
@Citing Commissioner - that was my first thought too. And if I remember rightly, Owens was obstructing Mujati's path at the time too.

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 11:20 pm
smith shoves the ref directly into the path of the players then doesnt even check to see if hes alright. what a nice bloke he must be!

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 11:30 pm
@ jake, thats hilarious, you questioning the all blacks sportsmanship when theyre the ones who stopped the game to check on the ref, the bok players tried to carry on playing, running at the whole the whole left by refs is a tactic that every team uses.

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 11:34 pm
Yeh gotta admit I love it....'Great sportsmanship from the players to stop immediately' *as schalk burger carries on digging the ball out....*

By Resident Troll, at August 22, 2010 11:37 pm
Nz commentary is just awful...

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 11:38 pm
this vid just proves it isnt easy to stand at the right position for the ref + they are being used

By Anonymous, at August 22, 2010 11:44 pm
I think that a fine or a ban for smith should be on the cards.

Yes the ref was in his path, but to shove the ref in the back into a tackle area, and then not even say sorry or check whether the ref is ok isn't an acceptable part of rugby.

very poor sportsmanship.

By Craig, at August 23, 2010 12:38 am
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By jesse, at August 23, 2010 1:10 am
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By Anonymous, at August 23, 2010 1:22 am
How is the NZ commentary bad exactly?? The South African commentary team is the most Bias load of dribble Iv ever had to listen too.

Clearly Juan Smit has shoved the ref into the tackle area for no reason. The commentary are just speaking the truth.

When the yarpie commentary team is used, I usually mute the sound and put my iPod on during the games.

By Yarpie Commentary Sucks, at August 23, 2010 1:28 am
Owens is a crap ref, and doesn;t kniow where to position himself. He always stands next to the fucking ruck in the bloody defensive line.
Of course this is gonna happen.
He runs fucking interferance for the attacking team.
Hopeless.

By Jono, at August 23, 2010 3:11 am
Incredible Cheis, Bet you're a Jappie, "..a little shove is nothing to get upset about", it was a bit more than that bro, it was a push, deliberate and meant to un foot him and help with the tackle. Then to see Burger, when the ref was in distress on the deck, trying to play on over him was a disgusting indictment of japie sportsmanship. U never touch the ref, period!

By Orka, at August 23, 2010 3:55 am
Great sportsmanship from the AB's... Burger attempts to continue play after his fellow loose forward almost kills the ref!

Typical South African play, so happy they were beaten 3-0!! :-)

By 3-0, at August 23, 2010 5:21 am
"Hmm... referee in trouble... Big trouble." ROFL

By 4LC4TR4Z, at August 23, 2010 8:20 am
Juan Smith apologised at least twice. You can actually see him go across and pat Owens on the shoulder. So Craig wtf are you talking about dude.

He probably shouldn't have pushed him, but he's an intense guy who probably would have pushed his own teamate if he were in the way. Justin Marshall, who should deserve some respect imo, sums it up well in this clip.

As for Burger, he stopped seconds after he he saw what happened. Bad sportsmanship? Please.

Everyone has a go at the Boks and makes out as if they're shit, but they're still #2 in the world. The haters act as if they've dropped out of the top 10! No such luck guys, sorry. :)

By Laz, at August 23, 2010 10:44 am
even the refs are tough in rugby! Fair play to Owens for getting up and getting on with it. Great reaction from the crowd too when he got up.

And to all the haters, try being a ref and getting in the right position, it isn't as easy as it looks

By M, at August 23, 2010 12:49 pm
@Anon who said it was called the National Stadium.

You're wrong, it's now called the FNB Stadium.

http://www.sportspromedia.com/notes_and_insights/judge_rules_in_favour_of_the_iconic_fnb_stadium/

By Inside Shoulder, at August 23, 2010 1:46 pm
http://www.sportspromedia.com/notes_and_insights/judge_rules_in_favour_of_the_iconic_fnb_stadium/

By T, at August 23, 2010 1:48 pm
The shove was a unecessary but both teams stopped as soon as they were aware of the potential injury...Good to see South Africa beginning to play at previous level attained with physicality and no stupid/nasty fouls.....Only got to see the first 20 minutes and thought it looked a much tighter contest.

By NiWiTa, at August 23, 2010 1:52 pm
gotta defend owens i think he usually let the game flow ell and is regarded as one of the best at that, also he takes no crap.
the scrum half clearly used him as a blocker but smith put a lot into that push, yet another SA player in a diciplinary.

By mat, at August 23, 2010 10:51 pm
Lol, Boks got WHITEWASHED!!!

By Resident Troll, at August 24, 2010 12:05 am
To those who criticized Smith, I once had my assistant coach ref my university second team game and I inadvertently threw a shoulder into his back when he got in my way. All this to say that if that can happen at the incredibly low level and pace of the game I was playing at, I can't really fault Smith for what happened to him at the incredibly high paced level he was playing at. Plus Smith pats him on the back before the next scrum. Good on Owens for continuing as well.

As for Burger, love him or hate him, you've got to admire his tenacity to go after the ball despite everything going on around him. I'd have him on my team any day.

Nonu also showed a lot of you haters what a world class player he is as well in creating several tries. He may not fit your mould, but he is the ultimate 12 right now.

John Smit you are world class, never hang your head.

By Canadian Content, at August 24, 2010 6:02 am
So glad Schalk got man of the match.

By Anonymous, at August 24, 2010 7:13 am
Canadian Content, Mate, your comment is moot, It's excusable for second grade teams and kids to have accidents with the ref, but when professional players run into the ref it's very very rare because they should know better. The Ref is OFF LIMITS. To try and excuse them because, as you say, in the heat of the moment and "the high paced level he was playing at" excuses him is basically amateur or part of his playing strategy. Professional players know where the Ref is as their plays are pretty well mapped out. ABs half used the Ref, sure, he saw an opportunity and took it, Smit deliberately pushed Owens into ABs halfback,thats illegal. End of story.

Smit is old and should hang up his boots. He was brilliant in his day but hey, if he was any good he would of been man o the match,
and in speaking of M.O.M "Anonymous", how did Burger get it? I think that was a concesion to the home team. Usually the winning team member gets MOM. Burger is lucky to still be playing after his uncited eye-gouge against Aussie a couple o weeks ago, oddly missed???

By Orka, at August 24, 2010 7:56 am
I know everybody looks for/sees different things in refs, but I think Owens is pretty good usually - he tries to lay down the law early and then let the teams play.

By Mike, at August 24, 2010 7:39 pm
Owens is a pedantic attention whore.
He "lays down the law" when he should be doing his utmost to stay out of the game as much as possible and let the teams play rugby. He's a drama queen, who loves blowing his whistle.
Not only that but he stands in the wrong place all the time, he stands in the bloody defensive line near the ruck all the time.
He runs interferance for the opposition. The All blacks look for this and send runners down his channel, because why wouldn't you.
And this was an accident, so epople saying refs are off limits, obviously that's true, but it was a bloody accident, so get over it.

By Jono, at August 25, 2010 5:55 am
Firstly Im glad NZ won the game but as for this incident, ...well, I don't like it, and I don't like it happening in a game, but so often we see try's being scored due to a move like Cowan performed...

So really, unless referees get out of the way so Cowan and others cannot perform these moves, or blow up when they know they have been in the way then these things will continue....

Juan Smith...well I don't like what he did, but as I said before try's have been scored from these positions and they have 'Stood as trys' (i.e they haven't been disallowed) so really Juan Smith had no real chance...

By (u-p)rick, at August 25, 2010 9:12 pm
Gud Comment u prick, you've summed it up pretty well.
As for Jonos comment re"it was an accident, get over it" crap, well thats just, umm well crap. Sry Jono, boohoo. It wasn't an accident and if you feel it was obviously you were looking at a different tape than I was, it was deliberate, end of story, time to move on. Oz vs Jarpies this week, should be interesting to say the least eh?

By Orka, at August 26, 2010 7:24 am
Never touch the ref its as simple as that. Respect for the ref is one of the things that discerns rugby from other sports and allows a physical game to be played with sportsmanship. fair play to those players who stopped immediately.

By Gary, at August 29, 2010 12:47 pm
Cowan used the Ref in this incident and another more recent one in HK where he actually scored. Good scrum half but from interviews he's a complete wan**er of a bloke. As for Schlack I think you're all being a bit harsh. If you actually watch the video again you can see that he probably didn't even know the ref was there and stopped not long after. Owens is a good ref and lets games flow and understands the new rules.

By KiwiHalfBack, at November 04, 2010 8:55 pm