Owens for the Heineken Cup Final
Nigel Owens, Wales’s top referee, will take charge of the Final of the Heineken Cup on 24 May – when Munster meet Toulouse in Cardiff. It is the 13th Heineken Cup Final.
Owens, one of the International Rugby Board’s 19 referees, was at the 2007 World Cup in France.
Owens, who is 36, has refereed 32 Heineken Cup matches since 2001, including the semifinal between Munster and Saracens. Last year he refereed the final of the European Challenge Cup when Clermont Auvergne beat Bath at the Stoop.
Owens is the third Welsh referee to take charge of a Heineken Cup final, following in the footsteps of Derek Bevan (1997) and Clayton Thomas (1999), and the 11th referee to take charge of European club rugby’s showpiece match.
His two assistant for the Final are also Welsh – Nigel Whitehouse and Hugh Watkins and so is the television match official, the great Derek Bevan.
Owens is a West Walian, a full-time referee and a stage entertainer in his spare time.
