Rugby World Cup 2015: Nigel Owens to referee final

Europe's finest players might not have been able to live with the southern hemisphere at the 2015 Rugby World Cup but at least there will be one representative from the northern Hemisphere at Twickenham on Saturday when Australia and New Zealand clash in the final of the sport's showpiece.

Welshman Nigel Owens has been appointed referee for the final which, as The Times says, "completes an inspirational personal journey" for the 44-year-old from Mynyddcerrig in Carmathenshire. Owens is one of the most respected officials in the game, an unflappable character who mixes authority with humour and is eager to let the game flow. The final will be his 68th international and he becomes the second Welsh official to take charge of a World Cup final, following in the footsteps of Derek Bevan who officiated the 1991 final between England and Australia.

In being accorded the ultimate honour for a rugby union referee, Nigel Owens is at the pinnacle of his profession, a remarkable achievement for a man who tried to kill himself 19 years ago. Although known as rugby's first openly gay referee, Owens struggled to accept his sexuality as a young man working as a school technician in Wales. According to the Times, Owens "having become bulimic and addicted to steroids" decided to kill himself. Taking a shotgun, paracetamol and whiskey, he walked onto Banc-y-Ddraenen mountain. "I was going downhill very fast to a very, very dark place where there was no way out for me at one stage," he recalled. "I left a note for mum and dad and said, 'I can't carry on any more with my life'. I didn't tell them why."

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But Owens passed out before he could pull the trigger on the shotgun and passers-by alerted the police. "I was found by the police helicopter. My mum told me that night in hospital, 'If you do anything like that again, take me and your dad with you because we don't want to live without you'... I told myself, 'You need to accept who you are'. That was the first big turning point in my life."

Owens took charge of his first rugby international in 2005 and two years later announced to the world he was homosexual. "It's such a big taboo to be gay in my line of work, I had to think very hard about it because I didn't want to jeopardise my career," he said later.

On receiving the news that he will referee the 2015 World Cup final, Owens said he was "humbled", adding: "This is a huge honour and a privilege. I want to thank my friends and family for helping me through some rough times."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"86005","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]