Nigel Owens accused of ‘bottling’ massive Rob Kearney decision

66 minutes into the Guinness PRO14 final and a huge moment in the game.

Leinster were 18-10 ahead but Glasgow Warriors had just turned the ball over after surviving a storm. Glasgow made a clearing kick and Rob Kearney chased back before pumping a up-and-under back into the opposition half. Up soared Stuart Hogg, not for the first time, and he claimed the take before, a split-second later, Kearney arrived. Hogg was sent hurtling, uncontrolled, to the deck and his landing looked awful. Medics rushed on and a brawl ensued, with most of the starting XVs getting involved. [caption id="attachment_201606" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Stuart Hogg of Glasgow Warriors is tackled by Rob Kearney during the Guinness PRO14 Final. (Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile)[/caption] Glasgow fans screamed for a red card and slow motion replays only increased their ire, and collective noise. One first, second and third glimpse, the collision looked bad and Kearney was in danger of being shown a straight red card. https://twitter.com/SportTG4/status/1132366477905027074 Referee Nigel Owens looked at a couple more replays and, with Hogg landing on his shoulder and not head, appeared to make his mind up. There was a brief few words with the TMO before Owens turned to Kearney and said:

"You're careless, you got your timing wrong and it is a yellow card. Off you go."

https://twitter.com/eirSport/status/1132365443736457216 Kearney returned for the final five minutes of the game as Leinster held on to win 18-15, and claim another league title. In the post-match analysis on eir Sport, former Leinster star Luke Fitzgerald stated that the wrong colour of card had been flashed. "I think it is a red card," he said, "and Leinster might have got away with one." Over on social media, few were disagreeing and Owens was accused of "bottling" a big call. https://twitter.com/johnham666/status/1132372279185346561 https://twitter.com/Davidbrich79/status/1132373452390899712 https://twitter.com/DougallChops/status/1132370509763620864 https://twitter.com/jaggo2210/status/1132370340095713287 https://twitter.com/teuchterdavid/status/1132369229825679361 The Glasgow fans were howling for calls all night, but they could have had a case over the Kearney incident.