Who'd be a referee eh? They get so much abuse from players and fans alike for wrong decisions, and rarely get praised for making the hard calls. But it's time to give the much-maligned Wayne Barnes some credit for showing some incredible restraint after being pushed in Friday night's game between the Ospreys and Clermont.
Barnes was standing outside the ruck, making sure that the Clermont defensive line was onside, when Clermont's Georgian openside flanker Viktor Kolelishvili ran three metres to push him out of the way:
Incredibly, Barnes didn't hit him - like most players would. He didn't even bin Kolelishvili, awarding just a penalty against him. This has happened once before in Super Rugby last year, when Chiefs prop Ben Tameifuna pushed referee Glen Jackson. On that occasion, Jackson was running into Tameifuna when the Chiefs were trying to defend their own tryline, and it was much more understandable. No action was taken on the field, but Tameifuna was banned for four games after the match.
It was an eventful first half for Kolelishvili, who later got into a scrap with Ospreys captain Alun Wyn Jones and was sent to the sin-bin.
