The thing that I have noticed most, the respect the players show for the ref and other players is mirrored by the fans.

I know his videos have been done to death, but Nigel Owens is the GOAT of rugby referees.
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backchating the ref will only get you in trouble so it's "yes sir" and "sorry sir" end of the story😅

" I don't think we've met before, but I'm the referee" "Christopher!"  Nigel Owens😂 He was so respected as a ref that he was allowed to ref international games for his home team (Wales) because everyone knew there would be no bias.

They don't have big balls, they have odd shaped balls.

" Er, Christopher .... ". When your parent uses your full name, in THAT voice, you know you're in trouble.

These are such big powerful men, if discipline breaks down a player could be seriously injured.

It starts at school level where the ref is always referred to as sir and carries over into senior levels. Only the captain is allowed to speak to the ref and the ref can advance  a penalty 10 metres for dissent/backchat.

Another video you must watch is 10 Minutes of Nigel Owens Being Nigel Owens - The Referee Grandmaster

A Namibian (I think) international player punched or pushed a referee over a few years ago. He was banned for life, all of it, including club and amateuer.
Rugby people take respect and discipline very, very seriously.

The reason why the captain is called and spoken too is because it’s the captain job to keep their team in line

Rugby is a tough sport and the players respect the ref.This is needed as it would be chaos if not.

JJ, Nigel Owens is the best Rugby Referee ever, he's Welsh, there were a few clips of him in this compilation but there's another one of all him, he's excellent and highly respected by all who play the game.

Most rugby players' first ref was a school teacher. That respect carries over into the professional game.

I'm English, I grew up playing Rugby. They have a saying "Soccer is a gentleman's game played by hooligans, and rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen." The tradtion of manners was ingraded into Rugby players

Until the 1980s Rugby Union was a strictly amateur game. It still mostly white collar workers. What happened players would be architects, accountants, solicitors (lawyers), doctors etc and they would be given a job and time off to play if they were good players. I was trained in firm of Chartered Accountants, our Senior Partner was assistant coach for one of the top UK teams. We had staff where weren't the best accountants, but were damned good rugby players. The idea was that were better accountants than rugby players would help our collegues complete their work.

One advantage that Rugby ref's have over most other sports is that the rules allow the ref to apply several different sanctions depending on what happens. They can reverse a penalty (so the other team get the benefit), they can move a penalty 10 metres towards the other teams try line, they can send someone to the sin bin for 10 minutes, and ultimately they can send a player off for the rest of the match (and a red card will usually result in a player being banned from playing for a number of matches, so it doesn't just affect the current match). Sometimes if one player really doesn't want to shut up, their teammates will come and drag them away before the ref can apply a sanction, or the captain will apologise to the ref on behalf of the team to reduce tension. This means the ref's generally get respected - but it also works both ways. If the players respect the ref, then the ref will respect the players, and often during a match they will even have a calm discussion or even a laugh when it's relevant (like when play has stopped for an injury, for example).

There's an old saying - when a player argues with the ref, the ref wins. Nigel Owens, and before him Clive Norling, are gods of rugby refereeing. Took no sh*t, kept a level head, and kept the teams calm by a combination of iron rule and just a touch of humour. Best ref's comment I've heard was "this is a great close game, lads - and there are thousands of fans watching it. It won't be as close if one of you is sitting on the bench for the next ten minutes, and your fans will think you're an idiot. Do you want them to think you're an idiot? No? Then stop playing like one."

Nigel Owens.  There are a lot of very good rugby refs but Owens is the goat.

I like the idea of having lots more rugby referees in the general population, walking among us. Respect, politeness and firmness.

It’s not so much the refs but the players being respectful because it’s a big part of the Rugby Culture and spirit of the game