Nigel Owens has spoken for the first time in the wake of his handling of Saturday’s Six Nations Championship clash between Scotland and England at Murrayfield.
BBC TV star Nick Knowles was among those who slated Owens for his performance in Murrayfield accusing him of ‘trying to avenge’ Wales’ Six Nations loss to England in round two.
Listen to the latest episode of Brian Moore’s Full Contact: ‘There isn’t any energy coming from England’s front five – Maro Itoje has lost his intensity’ https://t.co/jbxilGkQ0t pic.twitter.com/Uls3hZJkSa
— Telegraph Rugby (@TelegraphRugby) February 26, 2018
And yesterday Owens told Brian Moore’s Full Contact podcast on the Daily Telegraph website while he can handle people criticising his performances, he cannot deal with accusations of cheating or bias.
“One thing that really, really gets me going is when people accuse a referee of being a cheat,” said Owens.
“If someone has a go at me on social media because he didn’t like my performance or decisions, and sometimes they are correct, that’s fine.
“I will never block anyone on Twitter for thinking I didn’t referee well. What I do block people for is if they call a referee a cheat or accuse them of bias.
“If somebody says that, they’re gone and blocked.”