Bullish Owens needs to pipe down

WELSHMAN Nigel Owens is one of the best officials in the world, but the referee is in danger of letting his celebrity go to his head. Known for his one-liners — he told Stuart Hogg to get up because ‘this wasn’t soccer’ after accusing him of diving during a 2015 World Cup match against South Africa — he now seems to be unable to help himself when it comes to the wisecracks. During Leinster’s meeting with Munster in December, he penalised Cian Healy at a ruck, telling the prop: ‘The hands-out rule changed three years ago. Where have you been?’. He was at it again last weekend in Munster’s 10-7 Pro12 victory over Glasgow Warriors in Cork. Munster player Billy Holland threw a misplaced pass just after Owens had called advantage. When Holland asked why the play wasn’t being brought back for the initial infringement, he said: ‘Advantage is over there, lads. It is poor play by you there on the pass. Under no pressure there.’ Funny as it may have been to some, it was disrespectful to the players involved as they had no comeback. Respect for the referee is taken as read in rugby and the players implicated in any of the incidents involving Owens’ supposed witty repartee knew if they answered back they would get a yellow card. After being criticised on social media for his words to the Munster player, the whistler — who has 260,000 Twitter followers — tweeted: ‘The game is about the players not the ref. I didn’t say a witty thing or a put down. I just explained why advantage was over. ’ In future, he would perhaps do well to just referee the game — and allow the players to make the headlines.