“Were the Wallabies robbed?” asked a controversial World Rugby video, fronted by Ugo Monye and Nigel Owens, before it was deleted on Friday.
For the past few years, Owens has tackled some of rugby’s most hotly debated moments in his ‘Whistle Watch’ series. The retired Welsh referee wades into these flash-points and decisions from match officials that had massive bearings on how games played out.
Recently, he dug into the decision of referee Andrea Piardi to stick with his on-field decision that led to Hugo Keenan’s Test series-clinching score for the British & Irish Lions against Australia. Owens declared that Jac Morgan’s clearout on Australia’s Carlo Tizzano was “legal”.
In Australia’s recent Rugby Championship loss to South Africa, Owens felt Australia were hard done-by when Aphelele Fassi tackled Andrew Kellaway then won a turnover, while never releasing the Wallabies winger. As the former World Cup Final referee explained:
‘Whistle Watch answers questions about big moments in games, asked by the fans on social media. ‘Were the Wallabies robbed?’ is one of those questions. World Rugby referees agree on the content and outcomes. This would be their agreed outcome. It comes from the referees to us, to explain to you.’
During the latest Whistle Watch video, which has since been deleted from World Rugby’s social media pages, Owens mentions the word ‘robbed’ on a couple of occasions.
“We’ve heard the words ‘Aussies robbed’ a few times in this Whistle Watch series,” Owens began. “I’m not saying that they were robbed in this game, but they certainly do have a very, very valid point here, and I do believe that there should have been a yellow card to South Africa 15 (Fassi).”
This Aphelele Fassi scramble tackle & steal is so good. Watch too how smart Cobus Reinach is preventing the quick clearout. #RSAvAUS pic.twitter.com/FqL68fQj5L
— Brett Igoe (@brettruganalyst) August 27, 2025
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Nigel Owens argued that Fassi should have released Kellaway after his initial tackle, metres from the Springbok tryline, before going back in for a turnover attempt. That he never released, in the Welshman’s opinion, was a cynical act and one that should have been punished by referee James Doleman.
“Australia certainly are quite valued in their grievance point here,” said Owens. “That definitely should have been a penalty. It should have been a penalty for either of those actions, and definitely a cynical action – a penalty and yellow card against South Africa 15.”
Interestingly, the video seemed to unite South African and Australian rugby fans, and media, in criticising World Rugby for this after-the-fact video explainer. Nigel Owens took to social media himself to defend the video before it was deleted.
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Retired World Rugby referee, Nigel Owens. (Credit: Diarmuid Greene/SPORTSFILE)
Nigel Owens defends latest Whistle Watch video
The Whistle Watch video, which featured retired England and Lions winger Ugo Monye putting big in-game moments to Nigel Owens for his expert take, drew the ire of Australians and, in particular, South Africans.
The major bone of contention is World Rugby refusing to issue statements or explanations on crucial match decisions, yet providing a platform for a retired referee to critique those same calls. Others took umbrage with what they called clickbait headlines about the Wallabies being robbed.
Australian rugby writer Brett McKay declared, ‘This is a horrible look for the governing body, regardless of what you think of the moment itself. It’s bad enough having media outlets running ‘rate the ref’ polls straight after a game, but World Rugby creating content with a former international referee pointing out possible mistakes of current international referees? No thanks.’
Nigel Owens took to social media in an effort to explain the process behind making the Whistle Watch series. He stated:
My opinion would mostly be in line with the World Rugby referees’ review of it. But occasionally if I would give a different decesion I will state that in my comments on it, in the video. Yes, the referees are the ones who want Whistle Watch to run and they would know the outcome [on each video].’
Before World Rugby removed the video from its’ social media channels, South African rugby writer Brenden Nel wrote, ‘Think the biggest thing is if it was to be unbiased (as World Rugby should be) it should have spoken about the neck rolls missed, or the Wallabies lying on the wrong side of the ruck.’
It will be interesting to see in what guise Whistle Watch features – and how its’ content is packaged – over the remaining weeks of The Rugby Championship.
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