Nigel Owens reveals what he would have done with 'cheater' Nic White

"What Faf tried to do was knock the ball backwards out of Nic White’s hands, which he is quite entitled to do," wrote Owens in his column for Wales Online.

"He was onside at the scrum and on his feet, so he’s entitled to knock White’s arm causing him to lose the ball forward which would become a knock-on.

"Or he can knock the ball backwards towards his own side to try and gain possession. All completely legal actions, as the ball was out of the scrum and he was onside.

"What you have then is White milking it all and trying to get Faf de Klerk sent off in some shape or form. He was trying to get him sanctioned by rolling around. To me, that goes against rugby values. Of all the big hits Nic White has taken, I don’t think that action by Faf would have caused that response to happen.

"What I would have done is your first offence is De Klerk getting it wrong, completely accidental, no intent, it’s a penalty. What you have then is a totally unacceptable reaction from Nic White and against the values of the game. So I would have reversed the penalty and penalised him for his actions. I would have said to him ‘You are not in the theatre, you are on the rugby field, where are your rugby values? You can’t behave like that.’

"Rugby can’t take the moral high ground and complain about footballers rolling around and pretending to be hurt because it does happen in rugby." 

The popular referee selected his picks for Wales Online, but set out at the start that he wouldn't be picking any Welshman in his selection.

"I am not going to include any Welsh players on my list because I haven’t refereed them in international matches.

"Anyway, these are my top Test skippers ranked, Welshmen aside."

While there will always be some big-name omissions from lists such as these, there aren’t any captains on the list unworthy of Owens’ praise.

Check out his full selection below.

Owens said: Some people will be surprised at this one to start off. His misfortune was perhaps to be leading England during a difficult time, but he always gave everything for the cause, encouraging others to follow suit, and he was a nice guy off the pitch."

Owens said: "He was not only a great rugby player but also a great leader and a great man. Whenever I came across him on the field, he impressed me."

Owens said: "He’s right up on any list of rugby’s greatest players.

"Maybe he will be at the top for many people.

"New Zealand won something like nine out of every 10 games in which he led them, but the mark of Richie McCaw was how he conducted himself when the All Blacks lost."

Owens said: "I’m classing this as a joint-ticket as whenever I seemed to ref Ireland in their day O’Driscoll was captain and O’Connell was vice-skipper.

"O’Driscoll actually used to tell me if there were issues with the forwards then I should chat to O’Connell.

I found them excellent to deal with."

Owens said: "My choice as the best skipper I encountered may raise a few eyebrows, but what a captain Dusautoir was. He unfailingly put his body on the line throughout his career — recall the 38 tackles he made when France knocked the All Blacks out of the 2007 World Cup — led by example and understood the game very well."