It is not difficult to see why respected former referee Nigel Owens was torn before turning down the offer to be part of the Springbok set-up as they prepare for their defence of the Rugby World Cup.
Owens decided not to accept SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus’s offer to join the team as refereeing consultant and go-between in their communication with World Rugby.
A while back Owens admitted to only being nervous before refereeing the 2015 World Cup final between the All Blacks and the Wallabies and waiting for his first cow to calf.
Though he calls himself a part-time farmer, Owens tends Hereford cattle and is still a refereeing coach with the Wales Rugby Union. A six-month stint with the Springboks would also have been disrupting to his family set-up as he and his partner are in the process of adopting twins.
“I need to sit down and go through from my side with my partner, family and the Welsh Rugby Union, where I’ve been a full-time employee for more than 22 years now. The job entails a lot of time away, so I’ve got to factor in the personal, family side of things and being away from the farm,” he wrote on walesonline.co.uk
It is understood Wales are reluctant to give Owens six months’ leave of absence to take up a position with the Springboks.
“I’m also employed by the WRU as a referee coach, coaching the likes of Craig Evans and Ben Breakspear, while I also head up the academy and I’m involved with the URC [United Rugby Championship] as well. The WRU is my priority, so I’ve got to think how that would work if the next step was to happen? Right now, I don’t know,” Owens wrote in a column before he made his decision.
Ironically, had SA Rugby teed him up for a longer stint with commensurate financial benefits the offer may have found favour with the 51-year old who retired from refereeing at the end of 2020.
Still though, it would have been a long shot. Owens has maintained a strong media presence with World Rugby’s Whistle Watch an online programme in which he reviews major refereeing talking points.
Owens’s decision to turn Erasmus down will be a blow to the Springboks who would have done well to tap into his expertise as they prepare their defence of the World Cup.
He has also been elected to the international rugby match officials’ representative body and serves on the URC’s independent referees selection panel. Holding those positions would have represented a conflict of interest had he opted to take up his role with the Springboks.
Much of his time, though, is spent with his pedigreed Hereford cattle on his farm in West Wales’ Gwendraeth Valley in between Carmarthen and Llanelli.
The role Erasmus envisaged for Owens entailed him being in South Africa with the Springboks, refereeing their contact sessions and helping them with their understanding of what they can and can’t do on the field.
He was to provide feedback to World Rugby on behalf of SA, reviewing the game from a referee’s perspective, flagging incidents the team requires explaining, or areas where they feel they were on the receiving end of unjust treatment.
Erasmus had been optimistic about snaring Owens after their initial conversation, but the world’s former top ref made it clear he’d have to determine whether it would be practically possible to do the job.
Before turning Erasmus down Owens wrote in his column: “There is a lot for me to consider, but all I know for sure right now is that it won’t be an easy decision either way.”
Owens’s decision to turn Erasmus down will be a blow to the Springboks, who would have done well to tap into his expertise as they prepare their defence of the World Cup.
Whether Erasmus will tee up another referee remains to be seen but it is unlikely that he'd have Owens' stature.
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