Nigel Owen

[Neils]

Lovely tweety thing from Nigel praising both teams. Classy post from a good ref.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

https://twitter.com/Nigelrefowens/status/1074019123477262336

[Neils]

Thanks sitting in a bar in Toulouse was impossible to link it.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

Not a problem, it's a lot easier at home on a laptop!

[coddy]

I know some overly opinionated people on the DW site and the uneducated posters on Facebook don't like Nigel Owens because of his personality, I rate him because yes like today he missed a few indiscretions like all referees but he's fair to both teams and has the intelligence and experience to not be persuaded by a partisan crowd.

[Brandnewtorugby]

Yes, I quite like the play on style, even the Ross one where he was lenient because he didn't think it was on purpose. Other refs would have given yellow.

[Raggs]

I dislike his reffing style, especially as the new ruck laws came along, as his personal interpretation drifts further from reality. He's also getting further into "dinosaur" realms, as he lets high shots go (not just the Neal hit).

I like the personality bit though.

[Rossm]

I find myself in two minds about Nigel - often in the same game. I don't think he should have let the arm to Rosco's jaw go. However, when I am being objective, I try to perceive what I would have wanted if the situation was reversed and I still think it should have been a yellow. I also think he can get a bit too 'matey' with the players. I don't know the joke he was sharing with both scrummies before one scrum but both front rows were clearly not impressed! However there are lots worse around but top ref - no.

[westwaleswasp]

I thought it was his best game for ages.
He has gone so far down the route of favouring the attackers these past few years, and I have always felt he was the number one victim of the All Black cloak of invisibility.
Credit where it is due, he allowed defending teams to compete on Sat.
He has never been a bad ref, but as I have often said elsewhere, he could knife the mascot and by next week it would be forgotten by the media who seem to build up refs the way they do players.