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Nigel Owens critical of World Rugby change as Rassie Erasmus and Dave Rennie frustration ‘completely understandable’ Nigel Owens agrees with Rassie Erasmus over World Rugby’s decision to deny coaches a one-on-one meeting with the referee before a Test. Coaches can now only chat to the man in the middle prior to an international providing representatives from both teams are present, which is different to previous years. Erasmus has spoken out against the move from the global governing body and he has garnered sympathy from Owens. While it is unsurprising that the Springboks boss and his opposition head honcho, Dave Rennie, would be unhappy with World Rugby’s change, it is interesting to see that a recently retired official shares a similar view. The Welshman stated that from his perspective, he also found it a useful meeting when he was refereeing. Benefits the refs and the coaches “As a referee, the two coaches get the opportunity to meet with you the day before the game. During my career, I always found those meetings very beneficial, as did the coaches,” he wrote in his WalesOnline column. “You have an informal chat with them and discuss anything they want to discuss, while also having the opportunity to bring up issues that might have cropped up in previous matches that you will be looking out for. “It works both ways. As the referee, I was able to flag certain things in advance that meant I didn’t have to bring them up again during the match itself, while coaches had the opportunity to raise concerns and ask questions about how I would be approaching the game and what I would be looking out for.” World Rugby would have been concerned that coaches were trying to influence the referees before the Tests and, with the increased scrutiny on the officials due to things like social media, no doubt they wanted to find a way of reducing the pressure. However, Owens reckons that it could have had the opposite effect, with Erasmus and Rennie both taking to the media to discuss how they want to see certain facets of the game refereed. Publicly airing their complaints “I have to say, I completely understand their frustration. I don’t really get why both coaches need to be in attendance; I thought it worked perfectly well as it was. There was nothing wrong with it,” the former Test ref said. “If you’re going to have a tactic up your sleeve and you want to prepare the referee in advance, that conversation isn’t going to happen if the opposition coach is there. “It has a knock-on effect too. Those concerns that would otherwise be brought to the referee privately in those meetings are now being aired in the media ahead of games, which is less constructive.”