Should Freddie Steward have been sent off against Ireland?

Nigel Owens digs into the big decision in Ireland's Grand Slam decider, and explains why Freddie Steward was shown a red card.
Also, we have all the key decisions from the weekend and as always Nigel answers your Emirates fans questions!

#Rugby #RedCard #Referee #WhistleWatch

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[captainbligh]

I could listen to this man all day. He adds to the enjoyment of the game by us mere mortals by his clarity of explanation. Thank you very much.

[paulmullaney]

this is brilliant no nonsense commentary, esp from the ref point of view. keep up the great work Nigel, hope you do these for the world cup.

[conorpp]

Always love your 10 minute videos. You were a great ref! The rugby world misses you. Its funny, people dont realise how important a good ref is to a match. High standards in refereeing are so important.

[gergemini]

Irishman a shame the red card occured in the first put a downer on what could have been a clean undisputable victory for Ireland against what was a brilliant resurgent strong English peformance! England silenced their doubters and turned up BIG-TIME! Congrats to England on a great performance and for redeeming their pride! Ireland also showed that while they did not perform at their usual standard and a string of handling errors and inaccuracies, they still corrected those mistakes in realt-time and found that extra gear to get the job we have always seen from NZ! this 6N has been an incredible competition seeing Scotland + Italy put in some amazing shifts and Scotland in particular will be a big threat to Ireland in the World Cup group stages! Ireland v France for me was THE match of the tournament! FLAWLESS! Top 2 teams in both the 6N and the world battling it out! everyone is speculating on teh world cup and naturally so giving either France or Ireland the podium but i completely DISPELL all that conjecture! the world cup is unique and NOBODY can foresee who is going to win it this year the competition has never being stronger with the NH now firmly earning their seat at the table the SH "usual suspects" can no longer enjoy guaranteed finals! i am PRAYING that Ireland will go to at least a SF preferably win it but if not France to win! England are the only NH team to do it and we NEED another NH champion! plus its great for the game to have the Webb Ellis come to the NH trophy cabinets for a change! no disrespect to the SH teams! Good Luck to ALL!

[justinstephenson]

I am in the camp that considers Freddie's red card to be absurd. As Nigel correctly stated the referee has to have made the decision that Freddie could have changed his position - yet at full speed it is obvious that Freddie was trying to do exactly that, he is clearly trying to put the brakes on and turning away from where he thought the contact would be. Also because the ball has been dropped, the Irish player has unexpectedly at the last minute ducked much lower than would be the case if he had caught the ball.

However, as always, Nigel's analysis is wonderfully succinct and illuminating.

[andrewnimmo]

Excellent with very clear explanations on all the contentious points of the last week. I hope you're going to be on the commentary at the world cup too!

[graemewright]

brilliant, informative and i hope you do this for the world cup NIGEL. many thanks and take care.

[richardparkinson]

You were a class ref, miss watching you out on the field but love watching whistle watch🤗

[tomgreene]

Nigel was not sitting on the fence he was on a round bale ....much safer and more comfortable.

[mrmastersa]

so heres a thought Nigel, The red card to Stewart was from a forward pass that Jaco Peyper had immediately signalled, the only team entitled to play the ball legally then was England (Stewart) - Had Stewart gone for the ball undoubtedly there would have been a serious head collision and under those circumstances I assume Hugo would have been red carded, correct ??? Im of the opinion that it was an unavoidable collision myself and Jaco Peyper as a ref should have taken account of the time it took him to stop play (he needed the TMO to do that) so its not correct for him then to say that Stewart had the time to correct his position.

[jimstewart]

Only argument I have Nigel is when i watched at full speed i thought Freddie Steward withdrew from the contact and took instinctive action to protect. As far as i am aware as a club player of some time ago this is not dangerous and foul play done to deliberately injure another. So surely a rugby incident. Which brings us into the problem of head contact in sport. We need to try to eradicate or much reduce it. So maybe we need to address this accidental endangerment angle and not give referees only the option of going throw the head contact sequence. Which inevitably leads to red cards. Maybe mandatory yellow in this case to encourage players to further improve brace position. Also maybe get clarification that the tip tackle no matter what, potentially causes serious injury and a leg lift is an immediate penalty and a drop by tackler a yellow card? Could improve the tackle and offload area of game. Love to know your thoughts. Loved your refereeing and your honest commentary on a game we all love.

[chrisbrian]

The question not answered is how could Steward have acted differently given, his height, the timeframe and the body position of the ball carrier. All Stewards actions were defensive once he could see the situation he found himself in. If he had stayed front on and dropped his height, a much worse outcome could have easily ensued.

[Scotsdave]

As soon as this incident happened I wanted to know Nigel's view!

[nmartin]

I love your weekly analysis, and I hope we'll see more of the same post remainder of the URC and Heineken Cup games.

[Dechieftian]

great stuff Nigel .. your knowledge of the laws of rugby in general and your quick witted commentary specifically on the cut and thrust of a very fast and action packed event make for a very insightful and entertaining post game breakdown. Looking forward to RWC in France in September .. Cheers !!

[juanitoingles]

Interesting that a lot of former professionals think Steward didn't have time to do anything different. The ball was loose and in play until a split second earlier, so he wasn't just preparing to tackle Keenan he'd have thought he had a chance to gain possession of the ball. I followed your process closely but I couldn't see any space for empathy or common sense.

[Slaeowulf]

It shouldn't have been a card at all. The Irishman tripped into him. This has set a dangerous precedent for forcing cards against the opposing team.

[philipcourtenay]

So Nigel I have just watched an identical collision involving Danny Care in the Saracens v Harlequins game. Luke Pierce did not even award a penalty he called it a rugby incident as they were both going for a loose ball, exactly like Freddie was! Please explain

[evertog]

3 problems with Nigel's view:

1) He says he's taking the emotion out of it, as if he himself is unbiased... however, as a referee and part of the 'brotherhood', it's only natural that he would want to support Peyper. He says awarding the red is fair even though World Rugby have officially rescinded it. He implies that those who don't support a red are either English or don't want to see the game ruined, ignoring the large number of us who cannot abide the concept of punishment for 'bona fide', unavoidable accidents - either in rugby or in any system of laws.

2) He claims that Peyper intepreted the rules correctly, but this is just plain wrong. There must be no mitigating factors to award a red... and yet even if you ignore the split second Steward had to react, you cannot ignore the fact that Keenan is stooped, picking up a bobbling egg. To ignore one mitigating factor might be deemed careless, to ignore two is downright incompetent.

3) Even if you argue that Peyper himself followed the letter of the law, the law itself sucks, as I pointed out in 1. As these laws are punishing unavoidable rugby incidents and unintentional actions, they cannot possibly have any positive impact on player welfare or safety. They exist purely to appease the media storm around concussions.

Luckily Rugby League hasn't drunk the kool aid so we still have somewhere to go.

[dougclark]

3:28
For those who are sitting there saying Nigel is sitting on the fence. I am not sitting on the fence because this straw doesnt create a barrier, railing, or other upright structure, typically of wood or wire, enclosing an area of ground to prevent or control access or escape.