Nigel Owens was once again the talk of social media for his personal interaction with the players he is officiating at the weekend as Munster defeated Glasgow for the fourth time this season.
The widely respected ref commented on Jaco Taute's pass after signalling that the advantage he was playing had ended, which brought a fantastic response from Billy Holland.
We loved it, but it seems Luke Fitzgerald wasn't a fan. In a piece for Independent.ie the former Leinster and Ireland back criticised Owens' chattiness by claiming that there is no place for it in the game.
I'd rather he just refereed the game well. The first job of the referee is to almost be anonymous and that's the first duty for him. He is taken seriously, he's a brilliant referee, no doubt about that.
I just think those kind of things are disappointing and it's disrespectful to the players who are putting in a huge amount of effort.
There's no place for it in the game. You can't actually speak back. It's almost like a situation where someone is on a podium having a go at someone in the crowd. It's wrong because there's no platform to come back.
Owens has since responded on Twitter defending his on-pitch dialogue with the players.
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. Nothing more https://t.co/NtwxjIXNyz
— Nigel Owens MBE (@Nigelrefowens) April 10, 2017
Fitzgerald then responded to that response and the two agreed to disagree.
@Nigelrefowens great ref-agree to disagree on comments made during games, just my https://t.co/vuPWdmnra0 of luck for the rest of the season
— luke fitzgerald (@lukefitz11) April 10, 2017
A back-and-forth then followed as Owens
In Owens' defence, he was not criticising Taute's pass, but Fitzgerald's perspective confirms that not all players enjoy Owens' style of refereeing.
For those watching at home, Owens' refcam and mic can often provide great entertainment, and his authoritative tone when disciplining a player is met almost exclusively with respect, but did he overstep the mark when dealing with Taute?
Get in touch and let us know your view.
