Honiss blows the whistle on Cowan

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Paul Honiss has had a crack at Jimmy Cowan's captaincy, saying the Highlanders leader badly let himself down when he was red-carded against the Blues.

The All Black halfback was shown his marching orders following a petulant display in his side's round 10 Rebel Sport Super 14 loss to the Blues at Eden Park.

After adopting an overly-aggressive stance when communicating with match officials, he was penalised for stamping and then sent off following a charge on Blues first-five Jimmy Gopperth.

However, a Sanzar judiciary later ruled he should not have been red-carded as a result.

Honiss, writing in his latest column in the NZ Rugby World magazine, said his display during his abbreviated time on the field was an example of bad captaincy.

"Finally, a word of warning to any captain wanting some advice on how to communicate with a referee during a match; don't throw your toys out of the cot or threaten to take the law into your own hands," the former test referee wrote.

"At all times, try to keep a cool head and don't shout commands or instructions.

"Jimmy Cowan stepped over the 'line in the sand' in the Highlanders versus Blues match and ultimately paid the price.

"I'm not suggesting that the issues he was trying to highlight were not justified, but it was the way he tried to communicate them to the match officials.

"I'm pleased he did not get further sanction from his ordering off, and I think the judicial finding speaks for itself.

"But I hope the lesson he did learn from all of this was how not to conduct himself in the heat of battle."

Meanwhile, Honiss has paid credit to Chiefs coach Ian Foster following the franchise's run to date in the Super 14.

The Chiefs go into their final round-robin clash against the Brumbies at Hamilton's Waikato Stadium in second spot on the points table.

A win over the Brumbies, combined with a Sharks win over the Bulls, would see them finish the round-robin in top spot on the points table.

Honiss said it was deserved reward for a good coach.

"I used to assist him at Chief's trainings from a refereeing aspect and I could see first hand what he was trying to achieve with a team that was predominantly grown in the Chief's region (remember the team have already made the play-offs once under his reign)," he wrote.

"As fate would have it for all those Ian Foster critics, 2009 has seen the incidence of injuries minimised and following two desperately close losses to last year's Super 14 finalists, the Crusaders and the Waratahs respectively, good fortune has kicked in and the rest is history."

He said what made the Chiefs and Foster's success even more deserved was the bagging he had copped in previous seasons.

Criticism of Foster reached a crescendo last season when the side failed to make the semifinals.

At the time the wisdom of his long-term appointment was questioned, with his critics saying the NZRU and Chiefs should earlier have signed Warren Gatland as Chiefs head coach.

Gatland had taken up a contract with the Welsh Rugby Union, coaching Wales to 2008 Six Nations glory.

"If you were to turn back the clock 12 months I bet you would not be able to remember what was the topic of conversation in New Zealand, halfway through the Super 14 competition last year," Honiss wrote.

"As I recall it, there was a major media drive to have Ian Foster removed from the position of head coach for the Chiefs. Yes, they had experienced yet another slow start to the competition, but more importantly they had suffered an horrendous injury toll which meant that many of the Chiefs front line players (including All Blacks) were unable to play.

"The result was that the Chiefs couldn't consistently get into the winning habit, and the rugby public in the central North Island turned on Ian Foster.

"So where have all those critics disappeared to, or more appropriately, where is all the applause and positive comments abut Ian Foster the Chiefs coach?"