{"id":583680,"date":"2026-08-29T04:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T04:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/583680\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T04:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T04:44:09","slug":"nigel-owens-explains-tricky-grey-area-as-all-blacks-star-escapes-punishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/583680\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigel Owens explains ‘tricky’ grey area as All Blacks star escapes punishment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Test referee Nigel Owens has admitted that the officials were left with a difficult call after Luke Jacobson took Jasper Wiese without the ball during the opening Springboks<\/a> v All Blacks Test.<\/p>\n

After Pieter-Steph du Toit had been tackled, the New Zealand back-rower was the closest player on his feet to the ruck.<\/p>\n

However, with the South Africa<\/a> number eight stationed nearby but in front of the ball, Jacobson immediately counter-rucked by hitting into the back of the exposed Wiese.<\/p>\n

That resulted in the All Blacks loose forward then clattering into Cobus Reinach, who had been looking to move the ball away from the breakdown, and the scrum-half knocking on.<\/p>\n

Referee rejects TMO advice<\/p>\n

TMO Mike Adamson told referee Matthew Carley to have a look at the incident, but the on-field official determined that Wiese was part of the ruck and no offence had occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the grey because what we tend to talk about as referees is a coffee table, so any player in a ruck situation that is within that coffee table, even though they haven\u2019t got the ball, they\u2019re allowed to clear them out \u2013 that is what the rucking law allows,\u201d Owens<\/a> said on World Rugby\u2019s Whistle Watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you\u2019re not allowed to do is take somebody out who\u2019s not in that zone, so if something is too far or outside that zone, you\u2019re not allowed to take them out because you\u2019re basically taking the player without the ball and that\u2019s deemed to be foul play and a penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ardie Savea \u2018very lucky\u2019 as Nigel Owens weighs into controversial Springboks v All Blacks incident<\/a><\/p>\n

As is often stated, rugby has laws not rules and it is up to the referee\u2019s interpretation as to whether they have been broken.<\/p>\n

Owens therefore states the All Blacks<\/a> could have been penalised for Jacobson\u2019s counter-ruck on Wiese but, equally, Carley was within his rights not to punish the tourists.<\/p>\n

\u2018In that grey zone\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a tricky one, it\u2019s in that zone where for some it could be outside, for others it\u2019s just inside, so what he does is clear a player who\u2019s not in that zone, he\u2019s right on the edge of it. The referee feels that\u2019s okay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything the referee feels is dangerous then the referee would act on it, but it\u2019s in that grey zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn occasions, you may well see that getting penalised if the referee feels it\u2019s outside that zone, on this occasion they felt it wasn\u2019t and they played on.\u201d<\/p>\n

That intervention from the visitors ultimately proved to be crucial, too, with the Springboks looking dangerous inside the opposition 22.<\/p>\n

Had South Africa scored, it could have reduced the deficit to three points and set up a thrilling finale, but Jacobson\u2019s actions helped the All Blacks claim a 33-16 triumph at Ellis Park.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \u2018How does this happen?\u2019 \u2013 Victor Matfield and Nick Mallett baffled by vital referee calls that went against the Springboks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Test referee Nigel Owens has admitted that the officials were left with a difficult call after Luke…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1463,1464,111,43,139,69,6327,213],"class_list":["post-583680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}