Legendary rugby referee Nigel Owens feels Eben Etzebeth was “very, very lucky” to not be penalised for his try-saving intervention in South Africa’s dramatic win over France last week.
France looked on their way to extending their 7-0 lead when Etzebeth made a risky attempt at an intercept and he managed to knock the ball down.
The match officials ruled that the ball had gone backwards so the Springbok star avoided being penalised for a knock-on.
That was one of several decisions the French team were furious about after the match and Owens can understand their frustration.
“We haven’t put this one under the deliberate knock-on category because although Etzebeth’s actions in that great game in Paris between France and South Africa, he is very, very lucky because he goes with one hand out,” Owens explained on World Rugby’s Whistle Watch.
“There’s no way now he’s going to catch this ball, so what he tries to do is knock the ball backwards, which is legal, as long as you knock the ball backwards.
“If he’d have made contact with that ball and that ball had gone forward, then it would have been a deliberate knock-on and a pretty certain yellow card as well.”
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