"It's really poor" - Premiership boss slams referee for blatant 'favouritism'

The Falcons, who definitely did get a hard time from the officials, saw referee Christophe Ridley send off Callum Chick on his 99th appearances for the club.

“Josh Hodge clearly dropped his height, and the problem is that referees and TMOs are trying to get a quick decision rather than the right decision,” said Richards. “It was a yellow card. You can't make such a big decision in such a crucial game as quickly as that. It's really poor. I've spoken to [Exeter head coach] Rob Baxter and he agrees with me. We'd just scored and if we'd 15 men we may have competed better.”

“We didn’t get the rub of the green from the officials. Some of the boys are in the changing rooms saying some of the decisions are questionable, some boys are actually being a bit more vocal than that,” Richards said.

“Adam Brocklebank gets penalised in a scrum when their tighthead quiet clearly goes to the floor and you just think what the hell is going on here.

“There is obviously a bit of favouritism in some shape or form or they don’t know what they are doing. The boys just don’t know what is happening from one week to the next with some of the officiating. It is really disappointing.”

Owens said: "He was always a funny one on the field in nice way. You'd be trying to tell him something serious and he'd just want to have a laugh and a joke. He'd wink at you on the middle of a serious telling off."

OWENS SAID: "Itoje is someone who plays right on the edge. That is what makes him such a great player. He must be so difficult to play against but he’s also difficult to referee and I mean that with the utmost respect. 

"He plays with passion and on the line. It is difficult to tell Itoje not to bring the same confrontation and aggression to the game that he usually does. It would take away from his game.

"You don’t want him to change the way he plays but he needs to pick and choose when he gambles on the situation and when he doesn’t. And understand better those moments when you are under pressure and knowing when, if you take a risk and get it wrong, you will land your team in real trouble."

OWENS SAID: "A player who pushed himself, but also sometimes the referee, to their limit due to his intensity. A really nice guy away from the field."

DID YOU KNOW? He has won three Six Nations Championship titles with England and one English Premiership title with Harlequins

Owens said: “Definitely Healey. I only caught him towards the end of his career, thankfully.

"A wonderfully talented player and a very good pundit now, but he always had plenty say and quickly assumed I didn’t like him.

"He’s actually blocked me on Twitter, but I don’t think I’m the only one.”