Rugby World Cup
Nigel Owens favours Wales over personal ambition
PA Sport
July 2, 2015
Referee Nigel Owens calls for a try
Referee Nigel Owens calls for a try© Photo by David Rogers - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images

Nigel Owens says there will be "nobody happier than me" if Wales contest the 2015 Rugby World Cup final - and therefore dash his own hopes of refereeing rugby union's biggest fixture.

Welsh official Owens is a red-hot favourite to control the showpiece occasion at Twickenham on October 31, with many pundits believing only a first World Cup final appearance by Wales will stop him from being appointed.

Owens is widely-regarded as the world's premier rugby union referee, yet the 44-year-old said: "I am quite aware that people might be saying I am going to do the final if Wales don't get there, but that is far from the case.

"I have to referee well over the next couple of months, in the (World Cup) warm-up games and in the World Cup because there are maybe two, three or four referees who are capable of doing the same, or an even better, job and having the final.

"I have to referee well, and that is all I am thinking about. If I get involved in the World Cup knockout stages, then that is all going to be great.

"If I am sitting in that stadium at Twickenham on October 31 and watching Wales in the final and lifting the William Webb Ellis Trophy, there will be nobody happier than me.

"If Wales don't win it and I am sitting there watching the final, I will be disappointed.

"People ask me what would I rather? Me or Wales being in the final? I would rather Wales, without a shadow of a doubt."

Owens' countryman Derek Bevan refereed the 1991 World Cup final between England and Australia, while Englishman Ed Morrison officiated in Johannesburg four years later when South Africa toppled New Zealand after extra-time, so Owens would end a 20-year wait for British referees if he lands the top job.

World Rugby have now confirmed the World Cup pool stage appointments, with Owens being handed potentially-key encounters between Ireland and France and Scotland versus South Africa, plus Tonga's appointment with Georgia in Gloucester.

Scotland's encounter against South Africa will take him to St James' Park in Newcastle for the first time, while Ireland and France go head to head at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, where Owens has never previously refereed a Test match.

© PA Sport

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