Owens subjected to vile Twitter abuse following Munster defeat

Munster hearts were broken on Sunday when they battled in vein to reach the Heineken Cup Final, but Nigel Owens’ late call against the Red Army has not gone down well.

By Declan Whooley

The Welsh whistler irked the travelling supporters, and all those watching when he called a forward pass from Paul O'Connell right at the death with Munster looking to set up one final attack. Replays did suggest it was a wrong call, but the reaction towards Owens has been over the top, particularly on social media.

While the referee is always an easy target in defeat – Munster still had to finish the move off even if the call hadn’t been made – the reaction on Twitter has been extreme in some cases.

The Limerick Leader today reported that the man in the middle was referred to as a “p****”, a “Welsh b******”, and that he “screwed an honest team”, as well as other comments that and won’t be repeated here.

Owens took the time to respond to many of the unhappy supporters, an unusual occurrence in today’s game, though he is an active user on the social networking platform.

Even former Munster and Ireland legend Ginger McLoughlin has come out in defence of Owens, saying that he was “totally disgusted” by some of the comments he had seen.

While all supporters were hugely disappointed after such a stirring performance to fall short by a controversial call, it was a step too far in many cases.

The feelings of the Red Army was probably best summed up in this tweet.