"No clear evidence" - Nigel Owens weighs in on Tom Curry's red card and Jesse Kriel tackle

He said: "Right then, why do we start out in the opening game in Paris, France? New Zealand, we had Will Jordan receive a yellow card, or was it Cotton Juan? I think that's right for a yellow card, isn't it? Playing a man in the air.

"Now, some will be saying, "Wow, that's a bit unlucky," because his eyes are always on the ball. That is irrelevant. Once a player is in the air catching the ball, the onus is on the player on the ground to make sure that he does nothing to put that player in danger.

"Now, what he can do - he can't jump and compete for the ball. And if he's competing or is in a realistic position to compete for that ball and then there's contact, then we don't have foul play, and we have play on. But because he's not in a realistic position here to contest the ball, it then becomes illegal contact in the air - dangerous play.

"And then, it becomes all to do with the way that the player landed. Now, don't get mixed up - if the player doesn't land on his head, it doesn't mean it's not a red card. If the referee or the bunker felt that he was still in a dangerous landing, then they could still warrant a red card. But in this instance here, they didn't feel it was a red card threshold, and quite rightly so, they gave a yellow card.

"So just remember, eyes on the ball is no excuse if you're making contact with the player in the air."

He said: "Scotland, specifically Jesse Kriell's head contact in that game with the Scottish player.

"So, when the game is in progress, the team will be scrutinizing everything in the background. Just remember the Hawkeye system; it provides all the different angles and views to assess various game instances. The game can carry on while the referee and the TMO (Television Match Official) are actively looking at potential issues.

"The TMO, equipped with multiple camera angles and replays, will decide whether there's a need to bring something to the referee's attention and officially review it on the screen. Alternatively, if the TMO believes there's no issue, they won't alert the referee, and the game continues.

"It's important to note that this process isn't solely reliant on the referee's judgment on the field. The TMO's role is to ensure alignment between on-field events and the video footage available.

"In this specific case, the TMO reviewed Jesse Creel's incident and found no clear evidence of head-on-head contact. The decision ultimately hinges on your view. If you perceive head contact, it would trigger the head contact protocol and guidelines, potentially leading to a red card. However, if you can't definitively discern head contact and there's no concrete evidence of it, then there's no foul play, and the game proceeds accordingly.

"In the TMO's assessment, there isn't clear evidence of head-on-head contact in this instance."

He said: "Of all the exciting events of all the rugby that weekend, there was one big talking point that you've all been discussing. So, let's take a closer look at the Tom Curry yellow card, which was later upgraded to a red card.

"Now, do we have foul play? Yes, we do. Do we have direct contact or contact with the head? Yes, we do. Do we have a high degree of danger? Yes, we do. So, we are already on all the criteria for a red card. Are you all with me? Yes, I believe that you are.

"So, what happens here is this: the Argentinian player jumps in the air, and then he comes down. Almost simultaneously, there's contact with Tom Curry into the Argentinian player, and we have contact with the head.

"Now, it all comes down to something as simple as this: if you felt that Tom Curry was reckless and he could have done something to avoid what had happened, then we don't have any mitigation, and we have a red card."