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Owens nets Champions Cup semi-final gig after idle quarter-finals weekend
By Online Editors
Nigel Owens is back in business on the European stage, the veteran referee from Wales appointed to take charge of next Saturday's Racing versus Saracens Champions Cup semi-final in Paris.
Eyebrows were raised when Owens was omitted from duties at any of last weekend's eight fixtures across the Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
He took to Twitter on September 8 to explain what he would be doing with his unexpected free time, posting: "With no appointments to referee for next few weeks at least life on the farm is keeping one very busy and active."
However, the 2015 World Cup final referee is now back on deck, ready to take charge of the big showdown in Paris, an unexpected semi-final fixture as the consensus prior to last weekend was that Leinster would be hosting Clermont in Dublin only for both clubs to lose their home quarter-finals.
IRFU referee Andrew Brace, who was in charge of the recent Guinness PRO14 final featuring Leinster vs Ulster, will take charge of Saturday's other Heineken Cup semi-final, the Sandy Park meeting of Exeter and Toulouse.
Ireland's Frank Murphy and Scotland's Mike Adamson have been appointed to the respective Challenge Cup semi-finals, starting with Bristol vs Bordeaux on Friday followed by Toulon against Leicester the following night.
HEINEKEN CHAMPIONS CUP SEMI-FINALS
(Kick-offs local time)
RACING 92 v SARACENS
Saturday - Paris La Défense Arena 14.00
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
EXETER CHIEFS v TOULOUSE
Saturday – Sandy Park 15.30
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
CHALLENGE CUP SEMI-FINALS
(Kick-offs local time)
BRISTOL BEARS v BORDEAUX-BEGLES
Friday – Ashton Gate Stadium 19.45
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
RC TOULON v LEICESTER TIGERS
Saturday - Stade Félix Mayol 21.00
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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