British & Irish Lions and Wales hooker Ken Owens, the man at the centre of the controversial conclusion to the third Lions Test against the All Blacks at Eden Park in 2017, has revealed he still gets chipped about it by the referee concerned Roman Poite.With the scores level at 15-15 Owens was penalised for playing the ball from an offside position, a position that would have provided All Black Beauden Barrett with a chance to kick a last-minute penalty goal for New Zealand to claim the Test and the series.
Controversially, the ruling was overturned with the game and series drawn.
Owens told Joe's House of Rugby podcast, "Just before it happened, I was going, 'Right boys, exit now, let's restart, get the ball back down the field, switch on' and all the rest of it.
"[It was a case of] Don't f… up and then I f….. up!
"I went straight to Jonathan Davies, who is one of my best mates, and I said I am going to have to move to Trellech – which is about 17 miles out of Carmarthen [his home town], the most rural part of the county – and like hide away for the rest of my life.
"So there was relief in there when it wasn't a penalty," he said.
A scrum was called instead and the Lions held the All Blacks out to secure the draw.
"When Roman Poite refs me now, he does drop in a little quip now and again, with 'Stay onside this time, Ken' or something like that."Owens said he went into the All Blacks changing room afterwards to congratulate All Blacks captain Kieran Read for winning his 100th cap but he said, 'He wouldn't really speak to me'.
"To be fair, he did apologise after the third-place play-off at the World Cup. There were emotions running high at the time," he said.
Owens added that he had enjoyed playing under coach Warren Gatland, now back in New Zealand and coaching the Chiefs in Super Rugby.
"You know exactly what he expects of you and you can just crack on then and know where you stand. He just gives you massive confidence and gets that winning mentality out of players.
"His man-management is so clever. He knows the individuals in his team and what they need to get the best out of them. Some boys just need to be hammered all the time because that's how they perform.
"Others constantly need the carrot. It was probably stick early on with me.
"He would be different to every player and he would keep changing his tack. It wouldn't be the same way all that time. That was his biggest strength," he said.
