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Boks v All Blacks the toughest game to ref - Owens

Cape Town - Welsh referee Nigel Owens says a match between the Springboks and All Blacks is the toughest test for a rugby official.

Owens will be in charge of this year’s Rugby Championship match between the arch-rivals in Wellington on September 15.

“I remember Derek Bevan, one of Wales’ greatest referees, once telling me that New Zealand against South Africa is the toughest game you will take charge of - and he wasn’t wrong.It is a clash of two Goliaths, two huge rugby countries and rugby cultures,” Owens wrote via a column for the Wales Online website.

Owens was in charge when the All Blacks thrashed the Springboks 57-0 in Albany last year, but admitted that his most memorable fixture involving the nations was at Ellis Park in 2013, when the All Blacks won 38-27.

“It’s a match that has been talked of as one of the greatest games of rugby played, with many pundits, coaches and players past and present even calling it the game of the century. To have played a part in that, a small part, is something I will always cherish and never forget,” Owens added.

READ Nigel Owens’ full column on the Wales Online website

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