Tommy Bowe

Like that was your style.

He was definitely a referee that at times you look back and you're kind of thinking, yeah, he was almost trying to be, and Tiger Knight are almost, I don't know, sometimes, even I felt that with Knight, sometimes it was nearly trying to be your mate as well, going, ah, chin up, Tommy, penalty against you, or you didn't run away.

And I'm like...

I don't... Like, piss off, man.

Yeah, yeah.

You know what I mean?

Well, then, yes, exactly.

Because then all of a sudden you're kind of like, well, actually, I want to have that... Like, it's a really tricky... I would hate to be a referee.

Yeah, yeah, agreed.

It's amazing, like, the guys who do it.

And I think for the likes of Wayne Barnes, the abuse that he's had over the years.

And as you say...

maybe he did bring it on himself at times in certain ways.

I don't know how, but he wouldn't have been Flavour of the Month with a lot of the teams he was reffing against.

No.

Did you ever see them out socially?

I'd love, it would always happen on like the tours down under.

You'd be in New Zealand or Australia.

and whatever else and you'd be out having a few beers and obviously you could be in somewhere like Rotorua so there's not really many bars there and of course these refs are they're over for a bit of good crack as well they've obviously refereed a big game there's the three or five of them kind of as a team all heading out and I remember going to a nightclub one night and seeing Roman Poit with his top off

In the middle of a nightclub.