Anthony Foley: He epitomised your true rugby person, says Nigel Owens

He was refereeing a game in Limerick but the team of match officials couldn’t stay in the regular hotel, so ... look, let Nigel Owens tell you the story himself.

“It was a few years ago,” says the Welsh native. “What happened, the Strand Hotel was full, so we ended up, the match officials, staying in the Clarion Hotel, and Munster were staying there as well.

“After the game I went back to the hotel and had a pint at the bar, and Anthony Foley was in the bar with his family - I think he may have finished playing at that point and just started coaching.

“He came over and bought me a pint and we had a chat, then he went back to his family. A decent guy.”

Owens, generally regarded as the finest rugby referee operating in the game today, was speaking on the phone from Auckland a couple of days ago. Tomorrow he takes charge of New Zealand-Australia.

“I was getting ready to travel to Heathrow, to come out to New Zealand, when I heard the news of Anthony’s passing. I suppose he epitomised what is your true, genuine rugby person in that he was the forward who gives it his all, who lives and breathes the game - but a decent person off the field as well. He didn’t just epitomise what was good about Munster rugby, but what’s good about rugby itself.”

As Owens himself began to make waves as a referee, he clocked the powerful number eight in red.

“He was always good to deal with as a captain - he played hard but played fair, he epitomised the team spirit and he was clearly the leader.

“In his coaching role I found him to be pretty similar - firm but fair. He was up front and honest if he had any issues with your handling of a game, he’d tell you straight out that he disagreed with your decisions . But he was also complimentary if he felt you’d handled the game well. That’s something you appreciate in a coach you’re dealing with, honesty - that they’re happy enough to say ‘thanks for the game, well done.

The rugby intelligence many have referred to was always on display, says Owens.

“When he’d ask you questions about your decisions during a game he went by the protocol that we have - say Munster had some queries, they’d send them through Ed Morrison, the Pro 12 referees manager or Nigel Whitehouse, the WRU referees manager.

“The clips Anthony sent, there was always a genuineness you could sense, a nous as a coach, because he knew the game. He’d also send in just a few clips, and in some of them he’d be right - the referee had gotten the call wrong in those instances - and in others, he’d be happy to accept your point - ‘yeah, fair enough, I see what you’re saying there’.

“I think that summed up his appreciation of the game.”