Little wonder that some of his off-the-cuff remarks have become T-shirt slogans, “It’s not soccer” being just one of them. I’m told there were a few mutterings that I might be retiring after the World Cup. Indeed, the producer of the S4C rugby show, Clwb Rygbi, approached me after I’d done the PRO12 final in Belfast between Munster and Glasgow and asked if I’d like to come to work for them as I was due to hang up my boots, or whistle, so to speak.

I had no idea, was merely dealing at the time with a case of dissent I didn't want creeping into rugby.Coupled, of course, with those epic on-pitch lectures to players which ended up becoming social media sensations. 'This Is Not Soccer', a dressing down given to 22-times capped Italian player Tobias Botes who was showing dissent, is the most famous of the lot. The slogan actually appears on the front cover of the book. So that’s what the referee decides, the referee needs to decide was that hand supporting the body weight before he goes onto the ball? So we can’t say that any player that puts his hand on the ground is committing an offence because it doesn’t say that in the law. Now I'm able to switch my focus to the weekend and the build-up to it, reaching a very special milestone. I told her I’d met Princess Anne, who is patron of the Scotland team, on a couple of occasions. She had been presented to the two sets of players and match officials on the pitch ahead of matches up at Murrayfield, and also at the World Cup event held at the Palace during my first visit there as part of a group of referees in 2015.

After chatting for a while about other things amongst ourselves, we sat down for a meal. If you can imagine it being Christmas Day, with one of those huge family tables everyone gathers around, well that was pretty much what the scene was like inside the Palace. Only on a much grander scale, needless to say. Then it was the turn of the rest of us to reach out and take our food off the beautiful silver serving platters as the waiters stood by our side. Think of Downton Abbey – if you’ve seen that famous British TV drama series, that’s exactly the way lunch was served. What a great player, but what a great captain and what a great man, and the way he came up and handled that situation and said 'look, mistakes happen, let's just get on with it'. I thought to myself, that is what a true, great rugby player is. A genuine person, and a great leader as well. Another hotly debated call was the penalty that Smith won at the breakdown, which Handre Pollard converted to give the Springboks the lead.The evening started with a lovely video the WRU had put together after Quinnell had gone to Owens’ home village of Mynyddcerrig, near Llanelli, to speak to locals about their own pride in his rise to the top. Owens is the longest serving member of World Rugby's elite international panel, having officiated his first full Test in 2003 when Portugal played Georgia. He has also had huge success as media pundit, as TV presenter, star of adverts and his warmth and affability always shining through. Nigel Owens has been in charge of games at all levels of course, from slosh-in-the-mud grassroots games to the top of the tree, being the World Cup final. His pride in how locals in his home village have rallied around and taken delight at Owens' achievements comes across loud and clear in the book. He's as proud of the people of Mynyddcerrig and nearby Pontyberem as they are of him.

He turns 50 next June and, as he prepares to step aside from international rugby at the end of this season, he hopes to play a part in the 2021 Six Nations before bowing out. Newcastle were playing Norwich at St James’ in a fortnight and again, in my eyes it was merely a reference to some of the play-acting that can blight football and I was letting Hogg know what he did wasn’t acceptable. I don’t know why I uttered those particular words, maybe I’d watched a few football games beforehand and saw attempts to con the referee which annoyed me? It's been a strange one this week because I had TB [bovine tuberculosis] testing on the farm on Monday and thankfully everything was fine," Owens tells BBC Sport Wales. The one that stands out most, of course, is ‘This Is Not Soccer’ - a lecture he delivered to Italian scrum-half Tobias Botes. But not only did he survive his suicide attempt but positively thrived, officiating at four World Cups, taking charge of more Six Nations games than anyone else, blowing the whistle at seven European Cup Finals and presiding over some of the best games of rugby ever played, such as the high-octane try-fest that was the New Zealand victory over South Africa in Johannesburg in 2013.

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This is a tale of triumph over adversity, of hope over despair. The publishers say, 'It makes for a truly compelling read as the rugby book of the year.' Given I simply spoke in that manner because I wanted Robshaw to accept my decision as the referee, which in the end he did, I was startled at the fallout as it went viral once more. People in England seem to love it, they bring me photographs of a husband, brother, uncle, cousin, or mate called Chris and ask me to sign it, Err, Christopher’ so they can give it as a present to their loved ones. I’ve even had some asking for me to pretend to dish out a red card whilst saying ‘Err Christopher’, so they can video it. The chair of Welsh Water was also part of the conversation and turned to me to say, ‘Well, there you are Nigel. You’ve had it from the very top now. Sort it out'! It is something that you think about, something that you'd like to achieve, and I think if any referee or any player tells you 'I'm on 97, 98 or whatever I don't really care or think about getting to 100' then I don't think they're being very honest with you because it is something special, particularly to be the first referee to achieve that. I hope people enjoy the book, smile, like the behind-the-scenes stories I tell, but if it also helps some who might be going through trauma and want some light at the end of the tunnel, that's even more important."