Inside rugby union's big showdown
The penultimate round of Six Nations games has thrown up plenty of queries for my colleague Hugh Watkins and I.
This week we cover the controversial ending to the Wales v Italy game in Rome as well as issues surrounding Ireland's win over Scotland.
Cardiff - Plenty of you had questions for my colleague Nigel Owens and I after an exciting third round of Six Nations matches.
Here are a selection of our responses. We'll be answering more after the penultimate round on 10 and 11 March.
Q: Ross Smith - Why are players allowed to target players in a - ie push them away/out of the maul - when they don't have the ball?
After an exciting third round of Six Nations matches, my colleague Hugh Watkins and I are ready to answer your questions about the laws of the game.
Did you see something during the three matches that you didn't fully understand? If so, we are here to help.
As I am sure you will appreciate, we won't be able to comment on the rights and wrongs of individual decisions, so please ensure your question is about a general point of law rather than a personal comment.
That way you'll have a better chance of getting your question answered! We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you for all your rugby rules questions after another much talked about week in the Six Nations.
This week we cover a wide range of subjects, from the line-out and calling of marks to television match officials and binding at the scrum.
Here are the latest set of queries. Keep your questions coming in.
Thanks to everyone who sent in their laws questions last week. It was an eventful first week in the Six Nations, that's for sure.
We had plenty of questions on all sorts of subjects, including lots of comments on .
Unfortunately myself and my fellow referee Hugh Watkins cannot comment on the rights and wrongs of individual decisions from matches - our job is to help clarify points of law which can be difficult to understand.
Anyway onto my answers - in no particular order...
My colleague Nigel Owens and I will be on hand throughout the tournament to answer your questions about the laws of game - starting this weekend.
So if you see something during the three matches that you don't fully understand, just ask it here.
As I am sure you will appreciate, we won't be able to comment on the rights and wrongs of individual decisions, so please ensure your question is about a general point of law rather than a personal comment.
That way you'll have a better chance of getting your question answered! We look forward to hearing from you.
There's a certain amount of pressure involved with every international for a referee or touch judge, but there is something special about the Six Nations that really gets the whole world interested.
Just like the players, all the officials would have dreamed about walking out in front of 80,000 roaring fans ever since their humble beginnings refereeing local games in the park.
There is a team of six that officiate at every Six Nations game; the referee, two touch judges, a television match official (the TMO, or video referee), a reserve touch judge and a fifth official who deals with the replacements as well as sin-bins and blood-bins.
The referee is chosen by the International Rugby Board from the , while the touch judges and TMO are chosen from a panel of 19 officials. I'm one of those 19 hoping to graduate to the elite refereeing panel.
This year's tournament will see the introduction of a .
A shoulder injury forced me to retire from my playing days as a centre or full-back for . But from the ashes came the beginnings of my refereeing career in 1990.
I became professional in 2001 and have officiated in the Heineken Cup, World Cup qualifiers as well as the World Series Sevens in exotic places like Hong Kong, Beijing and Cardiff...
To date I am on the and have participated in Tri-Nations, RBS Six Nations and I'm hoping to be selected for the World Cup as a touch judge.
Without doubt the funniest moment in rugby has to be as a touch judge for France v Italy when winger Christophe Dominici had an easy run in for a score. He stuck his tongue out and was about to touch down near the deadball line when he dropped the ball! His face was a picture - as was mine!!!
The strangest thing a spectator has said to me was that I was missing a bloody good rugby game!
It all began at the age of 16 when a pupil at Maesyryrfa School in Cefneithin, when I refereed my first ever game. That was 18 years ago and I have now been a professional referee for five years.
I have officiated in more than 20 games in the Heineken Cup and four Internationals - Japan v Ireland was my first and this February I will be refereeing my first ever Six Nations match when England play Italy at Twickenham.
Outside rugby I do entertainment work as a stand-up comedian and singer. I also do television work on a Welsh language programme called 'Noson Lawen', as well as the Jonathan show on S4C with Mr Davies.
My best heckle happened a few seasons ago when one spectator shouted out at a game at Stradey Park: "Owens you're a comedian on the stage but you're a better one on the field!"
The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
NAME: Nigel Owens
JOB: WRU & IRB referee
Read a full profile.
NAME: Hugh Watkins
JOB: WRU referee & IRB touch judge
Read a full profile.
