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 an 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 were 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.