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Wales Online
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Jon Doel

Nigel Owens answers the most-asked question: Just why don't refs penalise crooked scrum feeds?

Nigel Owens has answered the question that bugs rugby fans so much: why don't referees penalise scrum-halves for crooked feeds at scrums?

Almost every scrum in every professional rugby match sees scrum-halves fail to put the ball in down the middle of the set-piece channel, instead directing it towards the feet of their own hooker.

Yet nobody is ever brought to task.

During a live Q&A with WalesOnline readers this week, which you can watch here, it was the most-asked question put to Owens.

And the referee, who takes charge of his 100th match this weekend, was candid in his response.

"I'm not surprised so many people asked that because that gets asked pretty much everywhere I go.

"They're right. We are not good enough as referees refereeing it. That's the simple answer.

"There are many reasons for that, don't get me wrong. You can have so many problems in the scrum and you're focussing on the front row, the height, the binding, especially if scrums are a nightmare in some games.

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"You're focussing so much on those other things, the feed is down your checklist, you know. That's not an excuse but it is a contributing factor.

"The long and the short of it is we need to get back to refereeing the feed better, there's no doubt. We don't do it and we should be doing it.

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"You've also got ask the nines why put it in that way, mind.

"But we do talk about it as referees when we get together and that is something I would like to see change to make it a fair contest.

"Everybody always asks about it so it obviously it is a bugbear for everybody in the game.

"So, I agree, as referees - me included - we're just not good enough with it."

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