Did they communicate that to anyone but the doorman and lift operator at their HQ?
Owens or one of his pals must have got the message so his ambiguous idea to halt Beauden Barrett's conversion attempt was within the recent law changes. But did any in the 82,000 crowd at Twickers or the global television audience understand what he was up to? What do they matter anyway?
It was one of those games for Owens who was not conducting any hymn either side had learned and scarcely looked as though he had made it on to the stage.
We all have them, days when you are out of whack because the dog next door was howling all night, someone was ill or the garbos emptied the bins down one side of the street then rested for an hour before they clanked through the other side.
Your brain is a little fuzzy at work, you put some credit in the debit column, ignore the spell-check or email some documents to the wrong address.
Where can we help the referees who have to make stacks of snap decisions in front of a huge live audience. Think of that pressure.
It's all right for those who want to be nerdy and rewind, pause and slow-mo the action to get a better read of what happened. In that time play has shifted on through another five phases for the man with the whistle.
When it comes to tries, though, the system has to be rebooted.
If the referee is unsighted or unsure, stop the clock and give the power to the TMO - ask him if it was a try.
That's his job, and if he can't be certain he transmits that doubt to the referee through a match officials-only communications channel.
Scrums were a shambles at Twickers and one reader suggests the referee should feed the ball. When the sides were settled on his call, he would deliver the ball to the middle of the tunnel and monitor illegalities while his assistant checks the other side of the engagement.
Quick lineouts should be discarded. If a kicker bounces a ball into touch there should be a reward for that skill rather than gifting the ball to the opposition for a rapid restart. They have the advantage of a throw, but it is a contest.
That would encourage the chess element in rugby which is being whittled away more and more with each tweak.
Breakdowns are a continuing unfathomable blight on rugby and will continue until the IRB (hello, anyone there) rules the tackler and tackled player are out of play. When that is done, more players will be forced to go to the breakdown and more room will open up across the park. What do ya reckon, Nigel?
