The legendary Test referee has given his take on the most controversial moment from Wales’ Six Nations defeat to England
Legendary referee Nigel Owens has given his verdict on the most controversial moment of Wales’ Six Nations defeat to England, after an incident involving English prop Ellis Genge sparked anger.
Wales were repeatedly undone by their own indiscipline in their championship opener at the Allianz Stadium, conceding 16 penalties and having four players sent to the sin-bin as they were thumped 48-7 by Steve Borthwick’s side. However, in the aftermath of the bruising defeat, it was Genge who found himself in the spotlight for an alleged ‘headbutt’ in the first half.
After England were awarded a penalty 12 minutes into the match, Genge squared up with Wales star Alex Mann and pushed his head into the back-rower’s face, with the incident picked up by the TMO and reviewed by referee Pierre Brousset.
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However, the match official deemed that Genge’s actions only warranted a penalty being awarded to Wales, with the Bristol Bears front rower escaping further punishment on the pitch before also avoiding a citing.
Following the game, the incident sparked lively debate, with former international referee Owen Doyle admitting it was “bewildering” that Brousset had interpreted the “clear headbutt” as a push.
Commenting on how straight red cards will now only be given for “egregious foul play” and “near-criminal assaults”, Doyle said headbutting falls under such a category, with Genge “escaping very lightly”.
“It was clearly a headbutt by Genge, bewilderingly interpreted by referee Pierre Brousset as a ‘push’,” he wrote in the Irish Times. “Any sort of headbutting brings the game into disrepute and there cannot be degrees of it, so Genge escaped very lightly – penalty only.”
However, Owens has now given his take on the incident, telling former Wales international Jamie Roberts that while he didn’t want to see it happening in a game, he did not believe Genge’s actions amounted to a headbutt and were therefore not deserving of a red card.
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Reviewing the clash on the latest episode of Whistle Watch, Roberts asked the former Test referee: “Was it a headbutt? We saw them come together, we often see players squaring up. But he actually makes head-to-head contact. The ref has given a penalty, should it have been more?”
Owens replied: “There are a couple of things to ask. Is this something we want to see in the game? I think even the most ardent England fan would say no, we don’t want to see this in the game.
“[But] do we have a headbutt? No, we don’t. Because what you have is two players squaring up and Ellis Genge sort of pushes his head forward.
“You don’t have that headbutt, he pushes his head forward. So, for me, that’s that’s not a headbutt [and] this is not a red card.”
On what Brousset should have done next, Owens added: “The referee has an option for how to deal with it. You will either deal with both players and tell them, ‘Hey boys, that’s not the way you behave on the field and get on with it’.
“But then, the only one who’s instigated the contact is Ellis Genge, so it would be unfair then to share that blame – even though he may have done something to provoke it. We don’t know.
“You then identify you’re not supposed to do that, and it’s a penalty. And I would say if you’re identifying that putting a head into somebody’s face is an act of foul play, then personally I probably would have followed it up with a yellow card.
“That’s the general consensus, not a red card,” he concluded. “It’s not a headbutt. A yellow card would have been sufficient punishment for it because we don’t want to see it.”
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