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'Scared of getting something wrong': Owens on the over-reliance of the TMO
Jaxin Daniels • July 14th, 2026 11:34 am
Referee Nigel Owens makes his point to All Blacks captain Richie McCaw in 2012 | Photo: Anthony Au-Yeung/Photosport
Former international rugby referee Nigel Owens believes rugby has become too reliant on the TMO and says the current protocol needs to be stripped back.
Speaking on Sport Nation's Scotty and Izzy, Owens said technology still has an important place in the game, but the search for perfect decisions has gone too far.
“I think first of all you've got to realise that if you want to get everything, which is pretty much impossible, but if you want get most of the big decisions correct you need to understand and appreciate that technology has to be a part of that process.”
Owens said the problem is not technology itself, but how often it is now being used.
“The issue you have at the moment is, and this has probably come down from pressure from the supporters, pressure from coaches, that the referees now are expected to get everything perfectly correct.
“You can't have that in rugby.”
The 100 Test referee believes officials are now carrying too much fear into games, creating what Owens sees as an over reliance on the TMO.
“The TMO can pretty much come in now for anything and everything and that should never be the case because you want the referee to make those decisions," Owens said.
"And 99.9% of the time the referee will get them correct."
Former All Black, and Sport Nation host, Israel Dagg is given a yellow card by Referee Nigel Owens | Photo: Anthony Au-Yeung / Photosport NZ
The Welshman said the answer is to narrow down what a TMO can intervene with and restore authority to the officials on the field.
“They need to strip back the protocol.
“They need to get the officials and the assistant referees to make the big calls on the field themselves and only use the TMO just as a last resort.”
He said the TMO was never meant to be used for every marginal moment in a game, referring back to his own career when the video review would only be used to confirm whether the act of scoring a try was successful or not.
Owens also agreed with concerns that constant reviews are draining the emotion out of international rugby’s biggest moments.
“I agree 100% and that is because of the protocol of the TMO that's so wide now they can come in for anything."
He said rugby has too much grey area for every decision to be made perfectly and that trying to chase perfection is now working against the sport.
“If you try to be perfect, which is not achievable, then the perfect becomes the enemy of the good.
“When you've got to slow things down and rewind them and look at all these different angles to make a decision, then that tells you I shouldn't be making these decisions if I go to look at it 10 times before I make my mind up.”
Listen to the full interview below:
