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#Post#: 21995--------------------------------------------------
Champions Cup Final
By: RCG Date: October 17, 2020, 2:43 pm
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First of all - yyyyyyeeeeeessssss!!!!
Quite the emotional rollercoaster, held out in the end, to
complete a very good couple of days for English club rugby.
Onto Nigel Owens, who, I like, respect but have to question his
interpretation of a number of things.
He was lenient from the start, sealing off rarely penalised,
extra time given to ball carrier to place ball, players not
maintaining their own body weights.
Henry Slade should have seen yellow. His high, dangerous tackle
was mitigated by his arm bouncing up off the shoulder but as it
was high/illegal from the start as (the excellent) Ben Kay
pointed out, should only have dropped to yellow.
Racing committed 9 offences in a row, warned, reminded but as
tries resulted on 2 occassions, no yellow card was forth coming.
The uncertainity at the breakdown added to the excitement, if
not to my high pulse.
A game full of grit, determination and pockets of brilliance,
ended in slight farce with the clock issue, resolved correctly.
I hope that Exeter can repeat this in years to come so the fans
can witness it first hand
#Post#: 22017--------------------------------------------------
Re: Champions Cup Final
By: reflector Date: October 18, 2020, 4:00 am
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I agree with most of what RCG has said but I didn't think Owens
seemed quite his usual ebullient self yesterday. He did nearly
lose his temper though with the TMO over the problem at the end
about the apparent non stopping of the clock ("I am not
interested in what happened 'technically' - was the clock
stopped or not?").
I also found interesting the conversation with the TMO near the
end about the high tackle by the Exeter player. Owens seemed to
be exploring reasons why he need not card the player, an
attitude I found quite refreshing and one I would like to see
more of by some referees who sometimes are too quick on the draw
to produce a card in the round ball game.
#Post#: 22100--------------------------------------------------
Re: Champions Cup Final
By: Readingfan Date: October 19, 2020, 8:03 am
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I thought the TMO did well at the end because it seemed like
Owens was going to misinterpret what he'd been told.
But equally I guess from Owens' perspective it was a pressurised
moment and it might be hard to hear clearly, so you probably
just want a 'yes/no' rather than a long story about what
happened.
#Post#: 22118--------------------------------------------------
Re: Champions Cup Final
By: anje-roo Date: October 19, 2020, 9:56 am
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Probably one of the most difficult recent finals to referee:
Racing were always playing catch-up & their fly-half made too
many critical errors leading directly to Exeter scores. That
written, Racing matched Exeter & towards the end of the 2nd half
Racing missed their chances to take advantage of Exeter having a
player sin-binned. Had Racing won, I don't think Exeter could
have quibbled. Racing will probably argue about a couple of
Nigel's decisions but nobody can accuse Nigel of not being
crystal-clear (although his French speaking skills could be
improved!).
It's quite interesting to see how quickly the professional rugby
union players complain about deliberate knock-ons but,
generally, accept that head/neck collisions around tackles &
breakdowns (especially collapsed rucks & mauls) are part of
their game. Sometimes slow motion replays make things look
worse. There were times in both halves when I wished RU would
follow RL and turn the clock off between a scrum being awarded
and the scrum-half putting the ball in - too many resets.
C4's commentators were very good, especially as they were
usually silent whilst Nigel was explaining. The best referees
are usually the best communicators (which includes listening!).
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