Champions Cup Final

[Ovals]

Wouldn't have been an issue if Russell knew how to drop a goal.

That situation, with Racing in attack, a man up and a point down, was screaming out for a drop goal.

[GoTheCanes]

Next game Nigel will give a red card for someone sneezing on the opposition. Well done Exeter though

[Slick]

Total farce at the end. The clock said 79.57, why even have a debate. Yes, yes I heard and saw it all as well, but nonetheless the time on the official clock hadn’t gone.

Wanted R92 to win but feel good for Exeter, great club and well deserved.

[Ovals]

Very enjoyable game - really thought Exeter had blown it when they got the yellow. Racing will be kicking themselves.

Well done to Exeter though - well deserved. What a story; 2nd tier to European Champs in just one decade.

Just need Wasps to win next week now

[Kawazaki]

He made decisions that benefitted Racing earlier. Been inconsistent with both.

Not when they were defending on their own line he didn't. Not all penalties are equal!

You need to watch the replay, he just runs back and goes straight in from the side. Right in front of Owens as well.

I don't need to re-watch anything, I already called that turnover out as a bad call.

A couple of Nige's calls directly lead to scoring field position for Racing and he didn't yellow card a Racing deliberate knock on far more blatant than Francis' one in the first half, so, yeah, he's disadvantaged both teams over the course of the game to a roughly equal extent.

You need to rewatch it. Hidalgo-Clyne just comes in from the side to the ruck literally on his own tryline and kills it. It was a Racing penalty under the posts which would have put them in the lead with 3 minutes left on the clock.

[sockwithaticket]

And a couple of the earlier pens that went their way, if not given, mean they wouldn't have been that close on the scoreboard for the erroneous turnover pen to make a difference. Who knows how much more of a lead Exeter might have had if the Racing deliberate knock on pen was a yellow card?

[Tichtheid]

Not when they were defending on their own line he didn't. Not all penalties are equal!

You need to watch the replay, he just runs back and goes straight in from the side. Right in front of Owens as well.

I don't need to re-watch anything, I already called that turnover out as a bad call.

A couple of Nige's calls directly lead to scoring field position for Racing and he didn't yellow card a Racing deliberate knock on far more blatant than Francis' one in the first half, so, yeah, he's disadvantaged both teams over the course of the game to a roughly equal extent.

You need to rewatch it. Hidalgo-Clyne just comes in from the side to the ruck literally on his own tryline and kills it. It was a Racing penalty under the posts which would have put them in the lead with 3 minutes left on the clock.

I’m pretty sure Nige told him to leave the ball alone, then awarded him the penalty

[JM2K6]

I don't need to re-watch anything, I already called that turnover out as a bad call.

A couple of Nige's calls directly lead to scoring field position for Racing and he didn't yellow card a Racing deliberate knock on far more blatant than Francis' one in the first half, so, yeah, he's disadvantaged both teams over the course of the game to a roughly equal extent.

You need to rewatch it. Hidalgo-Clyne just comes in from the side to the ruck literally on his own tryline and kills it. It was a Racing penalty under the posts which would have put them in the lead with 3 minutes left on the clock.

I’m pretty sure Nige told him to leave the ball alone, then awarded him the penalty

Nigel yells "hands off" at every tackle, it's meaningless. Not even the third time that game that he'd yelled something only for the game to essentially overrule his motormouth. At one point he screamed "he's not on the ball" in order to refuse giving a penalty Exeter's way, only for... the player to actually come away with the ball.

Nigel talks too much and wants to control the game rather than letting the game be played and making decisions based on that. I was surprised by how much he let go at the breakdown in general - he made his name as being a strict disciplinarian when it comes to things like sealing off, rolling away, having a clear release before going for the ball, etc, but we never saw any of that being reffed today.

SHC was on the tryline (which is the offside line there) no? Seemed fair to me, but I only looked at it once.

[JM2K6]

This is what you want from a final, two teams scoring in different ways, bags of tries, close as it can be, still all to play for in the 79th minute

Can't argue with this, a brilliant clash of styles and a great contest. I even felt sorry for Simon fucking Zebo.

[Openside]

Total farce at the end. The clock said 79.57, why even have a debate. Yes, yes I heard and saw it all as well, but nonetheless the time on the official clock hadn’t gone.

Wanted R92 to win but feel good for Exeter, great club and well deserved.

totally correct decision not to start the game time was up. if the clocks breaks you don't carry on till the end of time...

[Openside]

Not when they were defending on their own line he didn't. Not all penalties are equal!

You need to watch the replay, he just runs back and goes straight in from the side. Right in front of Owens as well.

I don't need to re-watch anything, I already called that turnover out as a bad call.

A couple of Nige's calls directly lead to scoring field position for Racing and he didn't yellow card a Racing deliberate knock on far more blatant than Francis' one in the first half, so, yeah, he's disadvantaged both teams over the course of the game to a roughly equal extent.

You need to rewatch it. Hidalgo-Clyne just comes in from the side to the ruck literally on his own tryline and kills it. It was a Racing penalty under the posts which would have put them in the lead with 3 minutes left on the clock.

I thought that too but swings and roundabouts, the R92 no 5 cleared Maunder out of the way for one of their tries...

[Un Pilier]

This is what you want from a final, two teams scoring in different ways, bags of tries, close as it can be, still all to play for in the 79th minute

Can't argue with this, a brilliant clash of styles and a great contest. I even felt sorry for Simon fucking Zebo.

Yeah, excellent final. Congrats Chiefs and hard luck Racing, even Zebo. Both very good teams.

That will have taken loads out of Exeter. Wasps a good wager next weekend

[sturginho]

The penalty that Nige gave Exeter at 74:47, what was it for?

[Lobby]

Not when they were defending on their own line he didn't. Not all penalties are equal!

You need to watch the replay, he just runs back and goes straight in from the side. Right in front of Owens as well.

I don't need to re-watch anything, I already called that turnover out as a bad call.

A couple of Nige's calls directly lead to scoring field position for Racing and he didn't yellow card a Racing deliberate knock on far more blatant than Francis' one in the first half, so, yeah, he's disadvantaged both teams over the course of the game to a roughly equal extent.

You need to rewatch it. Hidalgo-Clyne just comes in from the side to the ruck literally on his own tryline and kills it. It was a Racing penalty under the posts which would have put them in the lead with 3 minutes left on the clock.

Racing’s last try should have been disallowed for obstruction, which was quite a big advantage for them

[Magpie26]

I don't need to re-watch anything, I already called that turnover out as a bad call.

A couple of Nige's calls directly lead to scoring field position for Racing and he didn't yellow card a Racing deliberate knock on far more blatant than Francis' one in the first half, so, yeah, he's disadvantaged both teams over the course of the game to a roughly equal extent.

You need to rewatch it. Hidalgo-Clyne just comes in from the side to the ruck literally on his own tryline and kills it. It was a Racing penalty under the posts which would have put them in the lead with 3 minutes left on the clock.

I’m pretty sure Nige told him to leave the ball alone, then awarded him the penalty

Was odd, I thought the ball was over the try line so no offside, no need to release etc.
Need to have another look at it.

[ASMO]

Racing have been screwed by Nigel Owens. That penalty on the Exeter line was bizarre, he came straight in from the side and was arguably off his feet as well.

There is no offside over the line and i am pretty sure the Racing player was turtled over the line

[Slick]

Total farce at the end. The clock said 79.57, why even have a debate. Yes, yes I heard and saw it all as well, but nonetheless the time on the official clock hadn’t gone.

Wanted R92 to win but feel good for Exeter, great club and well deserved.

totally correct decision not to start the game time was up. if the clocks breaks you don't carry on till the end of time...

The clock didn’t break, Nigel told them to take 5 seconds off for time wasting, they didn’t seem to be able to do that so he counted them down to restart it, they fucked up restarting it. It was a farce. The ball went through the posts at 79.57, they should have restarted.

[Sandstorm]

Total farce at the end. The clock said 79.57, why even have a debate. Yes, yes I heard and saw it all as well, but nonetheless the time on the official clock hadn’t gone.

Wanted R92 to win but feel good for Exeter, great club and well deserved.

totally correct decision not to start the game time was up. if the clocks breaks you don't carry on till the end of time...

The clock didn’t break, Nigel told them to take 5 seconds off for time wasting, they didn’t seem to be able to do that so he counted them down to restart it, they fucked up restarting it. It was a farce. The ball went through the posts at 79.57, they should have restarted.

Meh, this isn’t the NBA. In rugby the ref decides when the game is over, not the stadium clock.

[Ovals]

Total farce at the end. The clock said 79.57, why even have a debate. Yes, yes I heard and saw it all as well, but nonetheless the time on the official clock hadn’t gone.

Wanted R92 to win but feel good for Exeter, great club and well deserved.

totally correct decision not to start the game time was up. if the clocks breaks you don't carry on till the end of time...

The clock didn’t break, Nigel told them to take 5 seconds off for time wasting, they didn’t seem to be able to do that so he counted them down to restart it, they fucked up restarting it. It was a farce. The ball went through the posts at 79.57, they should have restarted.

Why, when time was up. The clock was clearly wrong.

[PCPhil]

Apologies.

Watched the game yesterday and I was really into a great contest that could have gone either way. Some great skill along with errors that were due to high pace and pressure. Ref had a good game and Finn Russell had to try something different after Exeter looked like they were going to romp it early on. Some came off and some didn't.

Just read the commments on here as the match was being played and I now realise I was wrong on everything.

[Kawazaki]

Racing have been screwed by Nigel Owens. That penalty on the Exeter line was bizarre, he came straight in from the side and was arguably off his feet as well.

There is no offside over the line and i am pretty sure the Racing player was turtled over the line

Hidalgo-Cline always has his right foot on or over the tryline. And the ball is never in goal either. It's a fuck up by Owens unfortunately. Straight in at the side. It looks worse and worse every time you look at a replay.

[Niegs]

The breakdown's still a complete free for all isn't it... not an Exeter fan but Racing players are diving straight down.

I'm just glad this is largely done right at the level I coach.

[Sandstorm]

Racing have been screwed by Nigel Owens. That penalty on the Exeter line was bizarre, he came straight in from the side and was arguably off his feet as well.

There is no offside over the line and i am pretty sure the Racing player was turtled over the line

Hidalgo-Cline always has his right foot on or over the tryline. And the ball is never in goal either. It's a fuck up by Owens unfortunately. Straight in at the side. It looks worse and worse every time you look at a replay.

3 Racing forwards diving into the ruck like seals probably influenced Nige to penalise their team.

[sockwithaticket]

The breakdown's still a complete free for all isn't it... not an Exeter fan but Racing players are diving straight down.

I'm just glad this is largely done right at the level I coach.

More so when Nige is in charge. i think part of the reason for a lot of the heat on him in this thread is that most of the Prem watchers at least (can't speak to the Pro 14) will have seen nothing like the latitude he was allowing players for more half a season's worth of matches at this point. All of them witnessed in much quicker succession than normal, so the contrast between his interpretation and what we've been seeing is that much more pronounced.

[Kawazaki]

There is no offside over the line and i am pretty sure the Racing player was turtled over the line

Hidalgo-Cline always has his right foot on or over the tryline. And the ball is never in goal either. It's a fuck up by Owens unfortunately. Straight in at the side. It looks worse and worse every time you look at a replay.

3 Racing forwards diving into the ruck like seals probably influenced Nige to penalise their team.

First player straight off his feet in that clip is Skinner the Exeter Lock.

[Kawazaki]

There is no offside over the line and i am pretty sure the Racing player was turtled over the line

Hidalgo-Cline always has his right foot on or over the tryline. And the ball is never in goal either. It's a fuck up by Owens unfortunately. Straight in at the side. It looks worse and worse every time you look at a replay.

3 Racing forwards diving into the ruck like seals probably influenced Nige to penalise their team.

First player straight off his feet in that clip is Skinner the Exeter Lock.

[Sandstorm]

Skinner goes in - over the line - to prevent the player with the ball flipping and scoring. It’s perfectly legal.

3 seals are not legal.

[Kawazaki]

Skinner goes in - over the line - to prevent the player with the ball flipping and scoring. It’s perfectly legal.

3 seals are not legal.

[clydecloggie]

How is SHC allowed his hands on the ball when he is the 5th player to join the ruck. Or is this some twisted Nige logic where all the other players are no longer part of the ruck because they are off their feet?

[Insane_Homer]

Generally one would assume if he's calling 'no hands' this would be same as calling 'ruck'. It seems on twatter that he's saying this is not the case. Very confusing for players and viewers alike.

He should then be differentiating between "no hands" e.g. a player off his feet but not yet a ruck, as opposed to "Ruck, no hands", ie, ruck has formed and no one can then use their hands.

[Paddington Bear]

One of the most absorbing and high quality club games you could ask for. Very pleased for Exeter.

[Ovals]

One of the most absorbing and high quality club games you could ask for. Very pleased for Exeter.

It was certainly a far more entertaining game than I was expecting - Both of the finals made for excellent viewing.

[Niegs]

Nige was 100% correct in this ... according to Nige:

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rug ... 129844.amp