NIGEL OWENS WILL referee his sixth Guinness Pro14 final this weekend after the Welsh official was appointed to take charge of the Celtic Park showdown between Leinster and Glasgow.
Owens will be assisted by Ireland’s John Lacey and Mike Adamson of Scotland, while Ian Davies has been appointed as the Television Match Official for Saturday’s decider [KO 6.30pm, eir Sport/Premier Sport].
47-year-old Owens did not referee either of last weekend’s Pro14 semi-finals but the decision to appoint him for the league’s showpiece was ‘based primarily on performance and capability.’
It will be Owens’ 13th major final of his career, having previously officiated six European Cup finals and the 2015 World Cup decider.
“Early in the year the board of Celtic Rugby gave myself and the union referee managers the backing to ensure we appointed the best match officials for the biggest games of the season and I’m very pleased that our three best referees will be on the pitch at Celtic Park,” Greg Garner, Elite Referee Manager for Pro14 Rugby, said.
“Nigel Owens has tremendous experience and it is a great credit to him to receive a 13th appointment to a major rugby final. Supporting Nigel, we have John Lacey, an international referee since 2010 who has been appointed at World Cup level and will be signing off on his career on one of the biggest occasions after tremendous service to the tournament and the sport.
“I’m particularly satisfied that Mike Adamson has made the selection process easy with the standard of his performances this year. Last weekend Mike was the first Scottish official to referee a knock-out game in the Championship since 2001 and we were really pleased with his handling of Leinster and Munster — a game that was played at Test-match standard.”
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Not usually one to complain about refs, but how (other than the rest being equally as poor) does Owens keep getting these gigs?
He’s been on a downward spiral for a while now and his ego means games are far poorer with him involved.
@Oval Digest: how do you figure that? He’s the best ref in the league by a million miles.
@Jim Demps: I dunno about that jim. He’s incredibly inconsistent in every game and has been for a while now. While the attempts to get his YouTube moments up have decreased, he’s still making the games about nige
@Oval Digest: the only ref in the world that brings common sense to the table.
@Liam Flague: I’d disagree, the one thing he is is consistent. He’s got the best knowledge of the rule book of all the refs in the league and he’s not afraid to make a decision. He’s a top ref and he’s going to ref the top game.
@Jim Demps: I don’t agree at all. Witness his last showing in the league for example. He absolutely rode Treviso.
Owens ‘name’ means a lot of people don’t actually watch or scrutinise him in the same way they do others. He’s a complete Russian roulette of decisions at times who lets his ego rule him by ignoring his touch judges.
@Oval Digest: how exactly did he ride Treviso? Two contentious penalties? One – the John Ryan one – was the correct call. He knows the rules. The other – stander steal- he got wrong which happens in every game. VDF had a carbon copy steal against munster last weekend and got away with it. Elbows on the ground in exactly the same position as stander. It was the wrong call there too but I don’t think Adamson rode munster. You only think he rode Treviso because you wanted them to win.
@Jim Demps: Ah, I see you’re in a bit of a Monday mood today Jim…
As you’ve said yourself before, ‘I’m happy enough to talk rugby, I don’t want to get engaged in any provincial bullshit.’
I think I’ll leave that discussion there…
@Oval Digest: nope, all fine here, just telling you you’re wrong and backing it up. Simple enough really.
@Oval Digest: @Jim Demps:
I agree with Jim ::think he is still one of the best refs around ::feel you might to hung up on the ego part of your complant;;
Your other point about ‘I’m happy enough to talk rugby, I don’t want to get engaged in any provincial bullshit.’ is spot on !!
@Jim Demps: Have to agree with Jim, still the best Ref, for those demoaning him who would you rather see in charge? The 3 top refs on performance are Owens, Lacey and Adamson which is why they got the final, would you rather see an Irish or Scottish ref control the final between an Irish and Scottish team? You also cant name a ref from outside the Pro 14 as its the biggest honour for Pro 14 refs, you cant just hand it to some English or SH ref, and rob the refs that have done all the hard work of the big game. So a Pro 14 ref that isnt Irish or Scottish, if you don’t think Owens has earned it then who has?
There will be plenty of made up rules about ‘the spirit of the game’
And right on cue complaining about the ref. Every time without fail when a ref appointment is made people complain.
@Peter McCarthy: agreed. These guys should follow a sport that deserves them, like soccer. Blaming referees is disgusting.
Advantage Glasgow, just like it is with every other home team he refs.
How can they just ignore his incorrect penalty decision that handed Mun the win an robbed Benetton their mist famous victory ever.
When he checks his ego at the door he is an excellent top class ref who lets a game flow.
Those days are becoming fewer and farther between unfortunately.
@Kazoochka: I think that pretty much sums it up alright.
This fella gets an awful lot of attention. If it was a different ref appointment I reckon there wouldn’t have been an article on it.
A bit prone to be a homer so hopefully there’s a good turn out of Leinster fans and he likes the game to be as loose and open as possible which leans heavily in Glasgow’s favour. They’ll come out flying so like last weekend the key will be weathering that early storm and not let Glasgow get a head of steam
marius mitrea should have got it
He’s a great choice. Has overseen a few magnificent spectacles in his time
Total Homer. Glasgow will have to throw it away to not win.
he looks like he has a wedgie in this photo