NIGEL OWENS WILL referee his sixth Guinness Pro14 final this weekend after the Welsh official was appointed to take charge of the Celtic Park showdown between Leinster and Glasgow.
Owens will be assisted by Ireland’s John Lacey and Mike Adamson of Scotland, while Ian Davies has been appointed as the Television Match Official for Saturday’s decider [KO 6.30pm, eir Sport/Premier Sport].
47-year-old Owens did not referee either of last weekend’s Pro14 semi-finals but the decision to appoint him for the league’s showpiece was ‘based primarily on performance and capability.’
It will be Owens’ 13th major final of his career, having previously officiated six European Cup finals and the 2015 World Cup decider.
“Early in the year the board of Celtic Rugby gave myself and the union referee managers the backing to ensure we appointed the best match officials for the biggest games of the season and I’m very pleased that our three best referees will be on the pitch at Celtic Park,” Greg Garner, Elite Referee Manager for Pro14 Rugby, said.
“Nigel Owens has tremendous experience and it is a great credit to him to receive a 13th appointment to a major rugby final. Supporting Nigel, we have John Lacey, an international referee since 2010 who has been appointed at World Cup level and will be signing off on his career on one of the biggest occasions after tremendous service to the tournament and the sport.
“I’m particularly satisfied that Mike Adamson has made the selection process easy with the standard of his performances this year. Last weekend Mike was the first Scottish official to referee a knock-out game in the Championship since 2001 and we were really pleased with his handling of Leinster and Munster — a game that was played at Test-match standard.”
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