Nigel Owens says Ardie Savea was ‘very lucky’ after Jasper Wiese tackle

Former international referee Nigel Owens believes Ardie Savea was fortunate to avoid a 20-minute red card for his tackle on Jasper Wiese during the first Test between the Springboks and the All Blacks in the Greatest Rivalry series.

The incident at Ellis Park was checked by referee Karl Dickson, who decided that Savea had not made a high tackle. Owens initially thought the New Zealand number eight could be in trouble when he saw the challenge live, but said the replays showed that the first contact was with Wiese’s shoulder rather than his head or neck.

Owens was speaking on World Rugby’s Whistle Watch.

“When I was watching that live, I thought ‘oof, they’re going to check this’ because it did look, it looked high,” Owens said.

He went on to explain the definition of a high tackle under rugby’s laws.

“[But] let’s look first of all what a high tackle is: a tackle above the line of the shoulder. So the player must tackle above the line of the shoulder and makes contact with the head or the neck; it is a high tackle.”

According to Owens, the slow-motion footage made the point of contact clearer and explained why Carley decided the tackle did not meet the threshold for foul play.

“The key thing for me here is this,” Owens said. “The actual initial contact seems to be right on the shoulder here, and the difference for me is this – the South African number 8’s head then goes forward into the New Zealand player because of that force of the tackle.

“Just remember upright tackles are not illegal as long as you’re not leading on the shoulder, so an upright tackle is legal unless there’s direct contact with the head or neck; then that would be called as foul play.

“So there isn’t that direct contact with the head or neck here, [but] he’s very lucky because if he’d have been an inch higher and direct contact with the head, then you’re probably looking at a 20-minute red card.”

Savea’s challenge came during the opening Test of the series between South Africa and New Zealand. Although the tackle appeared high at full speed, Owens said the crucial factor was that Savea first connected with Wiese’s shoulder.

He stressed that an upright tackle is not automatically illegal. The decisive issue is whether the tackler leads with the shoulder or makes direct contact with the opponent’s head or neck.

In this case, Owens said Wiese’s head moved forward as a result of the force generated by the tackle, rather than being the initial point of contact. That meant the incident did not result in a high-tackle sanction, although Owens judged Savea to have been close to a far more serious punishment.

The Springboks and All Blacks are meeting in the Greatest Rivalry series, with the first Test played at Ellis Park. Further team news for South Africa included Pollard being ruled out, Sacha FM stepping in and Cheslin Kolbe returning for the Springboks in Cape Town.