Nigel Owens has revealed that he officiated the majority of the 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final between England and the All Blacks whilst carrying an injury.<\/p>\n
Eddie Jones\u2019 England<\/a> team marched to a 19-7 upset victory, booking their place in the final against South Africa.<\/p>\n The fixture would prove to be the final World Cup<\/a> match that Owens<\/a> officiated during his storied career, as he would hang up his whistle in 2020 after taking charge of his 100th Test match \u2013 France v Italy.<\/p>\n The Welshman was widely expected to referee the showpiece event if Wales failed to beat South Africa in the second semi-final \u2013 which proved to be the case \u2013 but he was ultimately ruled out through an injury he sustained during England\u2019s win.<\/p>\n Injuries for referees seldom occur, but one did happen during the Six Nations clash between England and Ireland in round three of the 2026 Championship with Andrea Piardi being forced to withdraw<\/a> and hand over control of the match to Pierre Brousset.<\/p>\n Nigel Owens\u2019 Rugby World Cup injury<\/p>\n This prompted Owens to revisit one of the rare occasions that he did sustain an injury but, unlike Piardi, he was able to referee the remainder of the game.<\/p>\n \u201cI was very, very lucky in my career, very few injuries. In 25 years of refereeing, I tweaked a calf out for a game, but never came off,\u201d he said on World Rugby\u2019s Whistle Watch<\/a> show.<\/p>\n \u201cThe World Cup semi-final 2019, I\u2019d done about 10 games, international matches, in a period of about three months \u2013 it was a lot.<\/p>\n \u201cI tweaked my calf 25 minutes into the game but the England-New Zealand<\/a> game was such a brilliant game of rugby.<\/p>\n \u201cI could just orchestrate it. I didn\u2019t need to get in and sort the contact area. I could manage it and got to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n His injury wasn\u2019t even spotted by players, with then-England captain Owen Farrell expecting to see him the following week in the final.<\/p>\n Owens continued: \u201cOwen Farrell came to me after the game and said, \u2018Thanks for the match, we\u2019ll see you in the final now\u2019 and I said, \u2018My calf\u2019s gone\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018Where did that go? It didn\u2019t show.’\u201d<\/p>\n