Nigel Owens wants FOUR big changes introduced to rugby immediately

Owens wrote in his column for The Telegraph: "Some of the scrum-feeds from both sides - particularly in the second half by Cobus Reinach - were beyond a joke.

"I must say that I have been as guilty of not giving enough free-kicks for crooked feeds as any referee, but it has to be stopped as soon as possible now. Scrum-halves simply have to put the ball into scrums in an acceptable manner.

"Everyone you speak to about it wants feeds to be straight. Brian Moore has been making the point for years and I agree with him. Everyone comments on it, and there is no excuse. It has been allowed to creep in, after a brief crackdown a couple of years ago."

Owens wrote: "We should aim for good performances that facilitate good games. In my opinion, perfect has become the enemy of the good because people are striving for a standard that is unachievable. A frustrating over-reliance on the TMO is one result of this fear of getting things wrong.

"Pressure is being exerted on referees by spectators, social media users, coaches, players, performance reviewers and referee managers. That is a lot of people scrutinising everything. I think we need to take a step back and make sure we pick up the things that matter."

Owens, who would like to see the number of replacements reduced from eight to four our five, previously said: "This is something I have been saying for a long time.

"Every question and answer session I do I am always asked which law I would like to change and I always say I would like to see the substitution law changed.

"We as referees and referee managers in World Rugby, we're always looking at things that need to be applied firmer, which contributes to the safety of the game and that is an ongoing process

"It is a physical game and unless you change it beyond total recognition of what the sport is, you are going to have to accept that there is going to be a risk of injury, but a minimal risk if you compare it to people that are injured everyday in walking about doing nothing."

Owens wrote in his column for Wales Online: "First of all, the laws need to be applied. Too many players are chasing in front of the kick gaining an unfair advantage and there is too much blocking of the chasers.

"When a box kick happens, the forwards in front start trundling down field before the ball is kicked and they are all offside.

"When the opposition catches the ball, they can’t counter-attack because they’ve got a line of players in front of them who have arrived in that position by illegally chasing the kick, so then they have to kick back and you have a kicking contest.

"We need to be stricter and keep players onside from kicks.

"You can also reduce the amount of box-kicking by cutting the time allowed to get the ball away from five seconds to three seconds.

"That will get rid of these long, slow caterpillar rucks they set up to facilitate the kick."