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Nigel Owens: Meet the new generation of Welsh referees doing us all proud
Last year’s Rugby World Cup was the first in the tournament’s history not to feature any Welsh referees.
We’ve always been known, as a nation, not just for our rugby talent but also our refereeing talent as well. That tradition goes back to the likes of Merion Joseph, Clive Norling, Derek Bevan, Clayton Thomas, Nigel Williams and then I suppose me.
So there has always been a Welsh referee at the top of the world game, but there has been a bit of a gap over the last few years.
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But now a new generation of Welsh referees is making its way on to the international stage, with Craig Evans flying the flag for Wales when he takes charge of Scotland’s clash with Fiji this weekend.
I first saw Craig in action at an Urdd schools tournament at the old Stradey Park quite a few years ago now, he must have only been about 18 at the time. I had gone down to referee a few games at the tournament myself but I watched a couple of games he was taking and thought ‘this lad really looks the part’.
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When we set up the academy structure under the stewardship of Bob Yeman, the WRU referee chief at the time, Craig was part of that first influx of referees we had. I’ve worked a lot with him over the years, particularly the last three when I’ve been his coach. He’s a lovely guy, he's willing to learn and put in the work. We still have a few rough edges to iron out but he’s listened to our advice and taken a lot of stuff on board and he’s hit the ground running in the URC this year. He’s been performing very well.
Craig went to the last World Cup as an assistant referee and I think that was a great experience for him. He’s done a few internationals too, and is one of only six referees to be given two Tests to officiate this Autumn. He is going into the games on top form and hopefully these internationals will be a stepping stone for him, with hopefully a Six Nations game and potentially a spot at the 2027 World Cup as a referee to follow.
It’s not just Craig, however. We have a few very talented referees coming through the system and there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes in bringing these talents through.
We’ve also got Ben Breakspear, who has done two or three URC games and went to the Olympics for the 7s this year. He’s coming on nicely and he’ll be able to step up again over the next season or two.
Behind him, we’ve got a very young referee called Ben Connor, who is Shaun Connor’s son. His dad was a very good referee too - well, certainly he thought he was when giving referees advice on the field!
Ben did his first URC game two weeks ago and did very well in his first game. He still has plenty of learning to do, but he's certainly a very talented young guy and on the right track.
So the future is looking bright, but we’ve also got a few more experienced referees like Adam Jones now refereeing in the URC and getting a couple of appointments as a TMO this autumn. Ben Whitehouse, too, has already established himself as one of the best TMOs in world rugby, as well as a very capable referee himself.
It’s all made possible by the hard work of people like Ian Davies now, who has taken over the professional end of refereeing in Wales, while we’ve also got Jon Mason and Sean Brickell who are doing a lot of the ground work in the community game. That is where all these young referees start and they need to be helped through until they get picked up by Ian. Before Ian’s appointment, Paul Adams as referee manager was key in making sure we have officials at this level now.
I would also like to think I play my part in coaching Craig, Adam and Ben Breakspear. It's good to see Welsh referees coming through and hopefully over the next couple of years everyone will be able to see the hard work that has been put in.
With refereeing, all you can do is prepare people as much as you can, help them, coach them, give them all the tools for them to go out and do the job and improve and better themselves.
But refereeing is quite a unique job, really, in that no matter what you do to help them, at the end of the day, it comes down to themselves.
There's an old saying in refereeing that the cream will always rise to the top and that is still true now. If you’ve got it, you’ll get to the top. The only thing we can do is help them to get there maybe a few seasons sooner than they would do if they were left to their own devices.
I’m looking forward to the autumn internationals but it’s certainly going to be a challenging time for referees. There are a few new directives and laws coming in which they are going to need to be strong on. But it will be another invaluable experience for referees like Craig and it will hopefully stand him in good stead for future opportunities.
