Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter says that Jack Nowell had no intention of criticising referee Karl Dickson as the back faces a disciplinary panel for his tweet during the Premiership match against Leicester Tigers.
Baxter has, however, reminded his players about careful social media use after Nowell was charged for criticising Dickson’s decision to award a penalty try and issue a second yellow card to Olly Woodburn.
Woodburn’s sending-off and reaction
Dickson sin-binned Woodburn earlier in the game for a deliberate knock-on. The Exeter wing then collected another from Dickson for diving on Leicester’s Chris Ashton, who was on the floor, in an attempt to prevent a try after Stuart Hogg had tackled Ashton.
The referee awarded a penalty try and subsequently issued another yellow card – and, therefore, a red – to Woodburn.
Nowell and two other Exeter team-mates who were not involved in the game – fellow England internationals Luke Cowan-Dickie and Henry Slade – vented their feelings.
Cowan-Dickie tweeted that “rugby had lost the plot”, while Slade said, “I have no words”, but Nowell posted a since-deleted tweet that read: “I’m actually in shock, like shock shocked. What the hell is happening? That’s one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen. EVER”.
Misworded tweet
Baxter has since aired his views on Nowell’s charge.
“With Jack’s charge, it came through as I was getting ready for a players’ meeting,” he said.
“I said, ‘just be careful; you know you need to be really careful on these things’. That is all you can really say.
“Jack hasn’t done it with any intention of criticising the referee at all. He has misworded it.
“All he has talked about is the decision. It hasn’t been directed at Karl Dickson; it has been directed at the game and been done in frustration at the laws of the game rather than the referee. He has not gone after the referee at all.
“Jack was the captain when we played Bath (last month), and Karl Dickson was refereeing, and their relationship was fine.
“If we had a panel of five or six Premiership referees on here and asked, ‘how do you get on with Jack Nowell’? They would all smile and say, ‘He is a great bloke’.
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“He has made a mistake. He knew very quickly he shouldn’t have done it, (he) removed the post, and he will be the first person to apologise to Karl Dickson.
“Dickson, at the same time, will know it is not directed at him; it is at the circumstances of the laws. There is nothing there, no malice intended at all.”
Woodwburn’s action
Turning his attention to the incident, Baxter said the decision should be debated and that Woodburn did everything he could to make a legal tackle.
“He (Woodburn) is not intentionally doing anything illegal, he doesn’t hurt anybody, there is no head contact, he is doing everything he can to remain legal, but it is an impossible situation to make a tackle,” the Exeter boss added.
“How does he influence that scenario? He should be able to, and yet he can’t, not legally. I think we should debate that, and we should look at it.
“We are one of the only games in the world that almost try and make the sanction for things being removal of numbers off the field. That is bound to cause frustration.
“It is good to have a debate on these things, and I know for a fact there is going to be some debate around the Olly Woodburn situation because refereeing departments higher up the chain are concerned with how do you referee that scenario.”
Nowell’s availability
Nowell missed the clash against Leicester through injury, and any suspension period could rule him out of the Champions Cup tie against La Rochelle on April 30.
“Jack is starting to shake off the knee, which is really good and positive because he has obviously been a big influence. He has got his hearing tonight – we will have to see how that pans out – but he is up and running around and is available,” Baxter added.
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