Nigel Owens: The Final Whistle: The long-awaited sequel to his bestselling autobiography!

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Having officiated the biggest games in international and club rugby, Owens is spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a career highlight - but refereeing the 2015 World Cup final between New Zealand and Australia stands out. Munster are playing Treviso in a PRO12 fixture at Thomond Park in 2012 when 22-times capped Italian scrum-half incurs Owens’ wrath. Owens, then 44, says he understood the wish to bring through the next generation of referees as well, but explains he ‘wanted some piece of mind' as he had no intention of finishing. After chatting for a while about other things amongst ourselves, we sat down for a meal. If you can imagine it being Christmas Day, with one of those huge family tables everyone gathers around, well that was pretty much what the scene was like inside the Palace. Only on a much grander scale, needless to say. I wasn’t to know it, but that proved to be another of those clips that went viral. A Welsh company even made some T-shirts with the words emblazoned across them and gave a couple to me. I sent one of them to Dan at his home in New Zealand. He thanked me, though whether he actually wore the thing I’m not so sure.

It's been a strange one this week because I had TB [bovine tuberculosis] testing on the farm on Monday and thankfully everything was fine," Owens tells BBC Sport Wales. 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.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. There were people driving down from Merthyr, from Pontypool, up from Cardigan, some down from Aberystwyth. People were driving down to see the village I was born in because it was on the news that week. 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.

This wasn’t something totally new, of course. Steve Walsh, a Kiwi whose contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union had been terminated, was offered a deal by the Australian Rugby Union and became a full-time referee with them for a few years. 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.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. What a great player, but what a great captain and what a great man, and the way he came up and handled that situation and said 'look, mistakes happen, let's just get on with it'. I thought to myself, that is what a true, great rugby player is. A genuine person, and a great leader as well. The world's most popular referee details the tale in his eagerly awaited autobiography 'The Final Whistle' , which is on sale from this week and is being serialised by Wales Online.

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."

We smiled. I was taken into this large banquet room where I started chatting to my fellow guests before the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh entered. I was introduced to Prince Philip first. ‘Sir, this is Nigel Owens who refereed the 2015 World Cup final.’ But not only did he survive his suicide attempt but positively thrived, officiating at four World Cups, taking charge of more Six Nations games than anyone else, blowing the whistle at seven European Cup Finals and presiding over some of the best games of rugby ever played, such as the high-octane try-fest that was the New Zealand victory over South Africa in Johannesburg in 2013. So when they were six minutes from the end of the game the player was duly informed, who then thanked the referee in turn before running off into the crowd: