Ref Owens a twit to tweet, says Johnson

NIGEL OWENS is once again embroiled in a social networking debate, after Ospreys boss Scott Johnson claimed it was “lunacy” that the international referee was allowed use Twitter.

Owens will take charge of Monday’s RaboDirect Pro 12 derby between Ospreys and the Scarlets knowing the former’s director of coaching wants rugby’s authorities to “temper” social network sites’ use.

“He is on social networks talking to opposition players,” said Johnson. “He posted the last time we played them apologising to the Scarlets supporters for forward passes. When you start that, you open up a can of worms. That can have unfair accusations labelled against people. The sport can do without it.”

Owens has been the subject of opprobrium from players on Twitter in the past. In February 2010, Ospreys forward Jonathan Thomas apologised to Owens after commenting on the referee’s sexuality.

Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu received a six-month suspended ban following his Twitter rant against Owens in the 2011 World Cup after Samoa’s defeat by South Africa. But it is Owens’ own tweets that have attracted the attention this time, after he was in contact with Scarlets players like Jonathan Davies and Rob McCusker via his Twitter site in the last week as well as interacting with Ospreys players such as Andrew Bishop and Richard Hibbard.

“We don’t need to know the personal life of officials,” Johnson said. “We don’t need them in contact with the players and using social media as a way of doing that.

“We don’t need that as a sport, and I don’t need it as a coach. When we turn up at a game to play rugby, we have to respect the officials. But the respect button is not an easy one to turn on and off. The people that are allowing this to occur need to take a good hard look at themselves. It is out of control. This is about the integrity of our sport.”

Owens did not comment on the matter yesterday, while Johnson expanded on his apparent mistrust of social media.

“You have a look at all the tweeting around the world and how much controversy it has caused in big sports.

“We don’t want to go down that road of banning Twitter, I want to show kids what is right when you’re in this position and what is not appropriate. It is the bane of our existence because things gets said on there that you’d think you would want to remain private.”