Nigel Owens Recalls Brilliant Moment From When He First Refereed Munster Vs Leinster

This absolutely brilliant.

Nigel Owens has worked his way up to the very top of his profession. Widely regarded as the best referee in the world, the Welshman is known for his no-nonsense attitude and hilarious one-liners.

Owens however, like everyone else, had to start somewhere. Speaking to World Rugby today he recalled a hilarious moment from very early on in his career. The Welshman was refereeing his first Irish derby, with Munster taking on Leinster in the age-old clash.

The likes of Peter Clohessy, Shane Byrne and John Hayes were playing on the day and it was Clohessy who gave Owens a taste of his now famous medicine, with a brilliant one-liner that left him speechless.

“The first six or seven scrums all went down, and I was very inexperienced.

I penalised one or two and they were still going down, every body was having their say, the Munster back-row were shouting, ‘he’s collapsing it’ and the Leinster back-row were saying ‘he’s collapsing it,’ the hooker was having his say, everybody was having their say.

“And I just blew it up and I said, ‘Right hang on now boys, look there’s twenty referee’s on this field at the moment,’ and Peter Clohessy just turned to me and said ‘Yes, and you’re not one of them!”

“And I thought, he’s right! I’m not one of them.”

Absolutely brilliant from the former Munster and Ireland prop. No doubt Owens has come a long way since.