{"id":618544,"date":"2026-06-03T08:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T08:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/618544\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T08:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T08:12:09","slug":"nigel-owens-settles-the-debate-on-the-best-captain-he-ever-refereed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/618544\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigel Owens settles the debate on the best captain he ever refereed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nigel Owens has revealed his ranking of the five best captains he refereed throughout his career, and the man he places at No. 1 may come as a surprise to many rugby fans.<\/p>\n<p>The popular referee selected<a href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/sport\/rugby\/rugby-news\/nigel-owens-reveals-top-five-21595956\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> his picks for Wales Online<\/a>, but set out at the start that he wouldn\u2019t be picking any Welshman in his selection.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am not going to include any Welsh players on my list because I haven\u2019t refereed them in international matches. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyway, these are my top Test skippers ranked, Welshmen aside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While there will always be some big-name omissions from lists such as these, there aren\u2019t any captains on the list unworthy of Owens\u2019 praise.<\/p>\n<p>Join the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3s8fWrj\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">RUCK\u2019s WhatsApp community here<\/a>\u00a0and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.<\/p>\n<p>Check out his full selection below.<\/p>\n<p>NIGEL OWENS: MY TOP 5 CAPTAINS <\/p>\n<p>#5. Chris Robshaw (England)<\/p>\n<p>Former England rugby captain known for his relentless work ethic and leadership on the field. Robshaw\u2019s distinguished career saw him become a stalwart of English rugby, earning accolades for his tenacity in the back row and commitment to the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n<p>Owens said: Some people will be surprised at this one to start off. His misfortune was perhaps to be leading England during a difficult time, but he always gave everything for the cause, encouraging others to follow suit, and he was a nice guy off the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>#4. Jean de Villiers (South Africa)<\/p>\n<p>Renowned South African rugby legend celebrated for his versatility and astute leadership. <\/p>\n<p>De Villiers\u2019 career spanned over a decade, marked by his exceptional skills in midfield and inspirational captaincy, guiding the Springboks to numerous victories and a Rugby World Cup triumph.<\/p>\n<p>Owens said: \u201cHe was not only a great rugby player but also a great leader and a great man. Whenever I came across him on the field, he impressed me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/nigel-owens-settles-the-debate-on-the-best-captain-he-ever-refereed\/2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CONTINUES ON PAGE TWO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nigel Owens has revealed his ranking of the five best captains he refereed throughout his career, and the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-618544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}