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

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I let it go for a little while, but when I awarded Munster a scrum for a turnover, after their excellent and inspirational captain Paul O’Connell had held up the ball in a maul, Botes started complaining about the Irishman not releasing. I’d had enough. I blew my whistle, called Botes and his captain Antonio Pavanello over for a word. With no sign of a new contract, I now knew that I might have a bit of a fight on my hands to still have a job as a professional referee come the summer of 2016. Martyn, Geraint and Gats hadn’t been aware of my situation. Once they were, to be fair, they acted decisively on my behalf. I will always be grateful for that. Let me explain exactly how that one happened. There had been a bit of a hoo-hah over gamesmanship after the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa, plenty of chatter in the media about players rolling around, diving to try to con the referee into giving a penalty, or running up and surrounding him to complain about decisions.

That was just me, in my own way, managing the moment as referee as I saw it in that particular instance, but what’s important to stress is that I wasn’t belittling Ward for his throw in any way shape or form. I would never do that to any player.” Don’t swear now mun, you’re on tellyBorn into a farming family, Nigel and his partner Barrie, own a 100-acre farm in the Gwendraeth Valley, Carmarthenshire.

Given I simply spoke in that manner because I wanted Robshaw to accept my decision as the referee, which in the end he did, I was startled at the fallout as it went viral once more. People in England seem to love it, they bring me photographs of a husband, brother, uncle, cousin, or mate called Chris and ask me to sign it, Err, Christopher’ so they can give it as a present to their loved ones. I’ve even had some asking for me to pretend to dish out a red card whilst saying ‘Err Christopher’, so they can video it. But while it’s certainly something that I’d consider doing and would probably enjoy doing, there are things that I need to sit down and go through from my side with my partner, family and the Welsh Rugby Union, where I’ve been a full-time employee for more than 22 years now. The job entails a lot of time away, so I’ve got to factor in the personal, family side of things and being away from the farm. There’s a lot for me to consider, but all I know for sure right now is that it won’t be an easy decision either way. Since retiring from international refereeing, Nigel has been a popular media figure and is the presenter of two welsh programmes ‘Hitting the Bar’ and ‘A Minute to Go’. Recognised with an MBE for his services to sport, Nigel is one of the most prominent names in rugby making him a highly sought after choice of event speaker. Armed with his media experience and iconic life story, Nigel can captivate and entertain audiences all event long.It’s Six Nations Super Saturday, England versus France, and Chris Robshaw’s team England are falling just short in their bid to win by 26 points and wrest the title from Ireland. My contract was due to run out on 1 June 2016, so not long after the end of the tournament,” Owens writes in the autobiography. He is also a member of the Gorsedd of Bards a t the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham. Nigel Owens Farmer – Swapping Rugby Boots for Wellie Boots It was a truly wonderful gesture, touching and indeed typical of the support the WRU had given me down the years,” writes Owens.

England’s Chris Robshaw queries Nigel about a French player. Nigel tells Robshaw there was nothing wrong with the play. Robshaw starts to say “He was…” to which Owens stops him dead with “ Uhh… Christopher!”. “Sorry, sir”, replies Robshaw. The hugely popular man in the middle brought pride to Welsh rugby by breaking a plethora of records in the world game, including becoming the first referee to officiate 100 Test matches, most Six Nations games and most European Cup finals. A couple of days later Geraint John called me into his office, explained that he knew nothing at all about this and would get things sorted. A few weeks later I was told that a new contract had been drawn up and the document was with my referees’ manager ready for me to sign, if I was happy with it. Happy? I was over the moon. It was for another four years.This is a tale of triumph over adversity, of hope over despair. The publishers say, 'It makes for a truly compelling read as the rugby book of the year.' Wow! Nigel was excellent! Very powerful talking about his experiences we had a lot of nice comments from the delegates, some moved to tears." - Caroline, Admin Officer, Weston College