Nigel Owens: The Final Whistle

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That was just me, in my own way, managing the moment as referee as I saw it in that particular instance, but what’s important to stress is that I wasn’t belittling Ward for his throw in any way shape or form. I would never do that to any player.” Don’t swear now mun, you’re on telly Owens says he was too blase about the match, turned up with the wrong attitude and what happened was his fault, not the young player's.

It’s a rare thing to to able to be able to assert authority with a smile, and of course his humour, both on and off the pitch has become a hallmark of his refereeing style and of the man himself. He was without doubt the best referee of his era, taking charge of the World Cup final, 100 Test matches, a record number of Six Nations games and also seven European Cup finals. But Owens has not had much time to consider his looming achievement this week, not when he has been busy working on his Carmarthenshire farm.The chair of Welsh Water was also part of the conversation and turned to me to say, ‘Well, there you are Nigel. You’ve had it from the very top now. Sort it out'! However, it got so awkward that at one stage I even had an informal chat over coffee with the Rugby Football Union’s referees’ manager, Tony Spreadbury, about switching to their refereeing banner across the Severn Bridge in England. That was the last thing I wanted to do really as a fiercely proud Welshman. He focused on two particular incidents from the Springboks, Eben Etzebeth’s try-saving intervention and Kwagga Smith’s turnover, two decisions that played a significant role in the outcome of the match. The one that stands out most, of course, is ‘This Is Not Soccer’ - a lecture he delivered to Italian scrum-half Tobias Botes. He has also had huge success as media pundit, as TV presenter, star of adverts and his warmth and affability always shining through.

It is indeed a unique story. His autobiography sees Owens take readers behind the scenes as he talks about what it was really like to be in the middle during some of rugby's greatest matches, reveals details of conversations with players out on the pitch, meetings with coaches and gives a string of hilarious dressing room anecdotes. As I blew my whistle I think the two sets of forwards were a little bit embarrassed, including Ward and Robshaw. No-one really wanted to say anything; even I was hesitating about asking Castres whether they wanted a scrum or lineout.

He turns 50 next June and, as he prepares to step aside from international rugby at the end of this season, he hopes to play a part in the 2021 Six Nations before bowing out. It's been a stressful week so the game itself has been far from my mind this week with the TB testing, which can be heart-breaking if the result is positive - but thankfully everything was negative and all was good thankfully. Spreaders, a good friend of mine, said, ‘Nigel, I will support you 100 per cent and the RFU will welcome you with open arms. But you need to be prepared that this will be headline news. As long as you’re prepared for that, then I don’t see it as a problem at all’. This wasn’t the first time the police had been involved in a game officiated by Owens, although the other occasion was far from funny. As a ‘teenage refereeing rookie’ he was in charge of a match between the Dyfed Powys Police B team and Cefneithin.

Towards the end of the second half one of the players asked him if he could tell him when there were five minutes remaining and indeed repeated the request a little while later. I let it go for a little while, but when I awarded Munster a scrum for a turnover, after their excellent and inspirational captain Paul O’Connell had held up the ball in a maul, Botes started complaining about the Irishman not releasing. I’d had enough. I blew my whistle, called Botes and his captain Antonio Pavanello over for a word. A European Cup game at The Stoop between Robshaw’s Harlequins and Castres. A lineout throw from Quins hooker Dave Ward is so crooked it’s caught by team-mate Robshaw almost in the scrum-half position. It was entirely possible at one stage that none of that would have happened. I’m so glad it did, creating many more memories – and the odd controversy or three! It is something I'm looking forward to but also a bit of realisation that this could be my last Test match."I've certainly not written the book to cash in. I'm just happy, however, if my own story helps others out there who might find things difficult from time to time. Like Owens, the great Welsh referee Derek Bevan also took charge of a World Cup final. He became Nigel’s coach, mentor and trusted TMO. But one day things didn’t quite go to plan during a European Cup game out in France. Again, these are moments I can never forget. Having been privileged enough to meet Prince Philip, I was so sad to learn of his passing in April 2021 at the age of 99. What a wonderful servant he was to the whole of the United Kingdom, a man of incredible honour and kindness who did so much good for so many people, not least with his Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme."

Reflecting upon that today, Owens says that letter writer, an elderly gentleman in his 60s, has done as much as anyone to help fight discrimination because his actions brought the matter to light. Now I'm able to switch my focus to the weekend and the build-up to it, reaching a very special milestone. So what he can’t do is put his hands away or beyond the ball to support his body weight and then come on to the ball to gather it. It was a truly wonderful gesture, touching and indeed typical of the support the WRU had given me down the years,” writes Owens.

There are plenty of great little stories peppered throughout this book, from dropping his steak in front of the Queen to the rituals he follows when preparing for big games, such as donning Superman boxer shorts to listening to inspiring playlists including the stirring hymn ‘How Great Thou Art.’ Owens was the official to spot the error, and he feared a great occasion might be cast in shadow. Amid the disappointment of the match situation, Jean de Villiers showed his colours. It’s Six Nations Super Saturday, England versus France, and Chris Robshaw’s team England are falling just short in their bid to win by 26 points and wrest the title from Ireland. Commenting on this, Owens first clarified that it is not a penalty if a player puts his hand on the ground at the breakdown. People clearly did, still do, and that's fine. As far as I'm concerned though, anything I said was simply me being me as a referee, interacting with a player and just trying to get my point across."