Nigel had special way with words

NIGEL OWENS will be remembered for many moments throughout an international refereeing career without precedent. For me, one shall always leap out, a brief exchange at Twickenham three years ago.

England-France, the last match of the 2015 Six Nations, is into the final ten minutes when Owens awards Les Bleus a scrum. As captain, Chris Robshaw queries the decision and points towards a spot where he thought a French player had been offside.

“No, he wasn’t,’’ Owens told Robshaw. “He moved.’’

When the England captain persisted, Owens ended the discussion with a one word riposte delivered in a stentorian tone: “Christopher.’’

Robshaw turned on his heel, suitably chastened. And Owens said: “Thank you.”

He had learnt how to cope with heckling back home in Carmarthenshire from an early age. “I was on stage at 14 doing stand-up comedy and I did public speaking with the Young Farmers’ movement. There’s no doubt that grounding helped my communiction skills as a referee.’’

There’ll never be another like him.