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Nigel Owens retires from reffing Internationals

He's definitely a character

Not a fan of his refereeing in recent seasons, but wish him well in retirement.

Be interesting to see which ref steps up into the international rotation with his absence.
 
Agree with above,guess World rugby would like to add a Welsh ref but can't see one of world standing at present.
A few of the world refs are coming to end of careers .
 
I liked Nigel Owens as a ref and wish him all the best. :cool:
 
I liked the way he reffed the big games like SA v NZ 2013, NZ v Aus RWC Final, and Eng v NZ 2019. He let the game flow well and made it an entertaining spectacle for me.

Can't say I totally understood every decision in the international games I watched him ref. But who would be an international rugby ref with all the abuse they get with all the split second decisions they had to make?

To add to this NO's sexuality to give all the naysayers even more ammunition to dish him in a macho game.

I take it he will still ref the club games though?
 
Most iconic ref of all time. A legend who had a great career.

I think by the end he was protecting his reputation and tried to continue btye trend of Nigel Owens' games being the most entertaining and the rules of rugby lost out a bit but I never feel as if he decided a game, definitely not one my teams were involved in.
 
All the best. He's done a good job.
I liked the fact he took the time to explain to the players exactly what went wrong and what he expected from them and what the consequences would be if they wouldn't comply. That brings transparency, both for players and fans who can now listen to the conversation. I also like that I can't recall a single time where I thought he was judging the two teams by different standards. This speaks volumes about him.
I always got the impression he refd big games the same way he did smaller ones, which is important in my book too.
His pros clearly outweigh his cons.

I did not like his apparent need to be in the spotlight. In a way i'd like refs to be as invisible as possible. Even (or especially) as an assistant ref.
You want to make jokes? Go to your local stand up pub.
And i don't like it one bit when people in a position of power use it to be funny at the expense of others, some of which don't have full command of the language he is officiating in. His unnecessarily condescending tone ("off you go", et al) was needless and even counterproductive. These are not primary school kids, but professionals doing a job. It goes back to the spotlight thing. Maybe it's just me.
 
I did not like his apparent need to be in the spotlight. In a way i'd like refs to be as invisible as possible. Even (or especially) as an assistant ref.
The writing was on the wall when he started selling merchandise with his catch phrases on
 
The writing was on the wall when he started selling merchandise with his catch phrases on

- "and that offends you as someone who follows the sport?"
- "No, it offends me as a comedian"

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