Nigel Owens confirms late hit on Ethan Hooker should have been penalised

The Sharks were unhappy when the Ospreys wing dived onto Hooker after he had touched down for a try.

Hooker suffered a dislocated shoulder as a result but the officials, despite checking it via the TMO, did not take any further action.

Because it did not reach the red card threshold, the citing commissioner did not intervene following the contest, which left the Durban outfit distinctly unimpressed.

"Those incidents happen from time to time when a player seemingly needlessly comes in after a team scores and everything's lost," Owens explained in his WalesOnline column.

"You're entitled to dive in and try to prevent the try as long as it's in goal, but what you're obviously not allowed to do is go in dangerously.

"Once you're in the end goal area, the laws are different slightly in some phases to elsewhere on the field of play.

"For one, elsewhere, you can't dive in on that player and you have to give them the opportunity to get up or you can try and win the ball whilst you're on your feet, even though the other player may be on the ground or getting up.

"But on the goal line that law doesn't apply, so you can try and tackle him as he's going down or go and try to dislodge the ball as he's falling.

"What is illegal, however, is needlessly coming down on a player after they've already scored a try. That becomes foul play."

Owens therefore agreed that Morgan should have been penalised and potentially sin-binned, but the Welshman doesn't believe that it was worthy of any more than that.

"I don't know Luke Morgan well, although I have refereed him a few times, but he doesn't strike me as a player who would have done something like that with any intention," he wrote.

"So you've got to put that aside for a minute, but there's no doubt what he did was dangerous and illegal.

"This incident has in a way highlighted the issue, and unfortunately the fact it resulted in an injury is probably the reason why. If Hooker hadn't have been injured I'm not sure anyone would have really been talking about it.

"At the very least it should have been a penalty on halfway, although I think in this case there's an argument to say it should have been a penalty and a yellow card.

"I don't think it's a red card, although the injury has prompted some to make that argument, but I think you've got to referee the action rather than the outcome."

Despite admitting an offence took place, Owens slammed the abuse which was aimed at Morgan and his family in the aftermath of the incident.

"I do think the fallout from it, however, with the abuse aimed at the player, has been totally unacceptable. I don't think the player did that deliberately, but it was foul play," he added.

"But even so, the fallout has been unacceptable. It should have really been dealt with on the field."

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