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Star referee Nigel Owens has revealed how he has coped with criticism about his World Cup final appearance and explained how star Wallabies No.8 David Pocock was the first person to congratulate him after the final whistle with a Welsh style cwtch.

It has been a career-defining weekend for the Welsh ref after he took charge of New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup final win over Australia at Twickenham on Saturday before scooping the prestigious World Rugby Referee Award a day later.

But it was not without minor controversy with Owens receiving some criticism from the Australian press.

“It is like a player's career, a huge honour and a pinnacle to get to the World Cup final,” said Owens.

“The players are looking to win the final but you are in a no win situation as a referee because you will never become a winner.

“All you can hope for is that you go out there and do your best and hope nobody is talking about you."

Owens added: “There will always be a couple of decisions people are talking about because it’s impossible to referee a game of rugby without making some mistakes.

“There are always going to be some decisions people want to talk about.

“If you can’t deal with criticism as a referee you can’t do this job. So there is something inside you that helps you deal with that.

“It does not make it any nicer for me to hear criticism, especially if it is personal, than anybody else.

“There is something in your make-up that allows you to get to the top of international refereeing.

(Image: PA)

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“As long as you look back at the game and think I did my best and gave it my all and none of the decisions that I made affected the game.

“At the final whistle the first person to come up on Saturday didn’t even shake my hand. As we say in Wales he gave me a ‘cwtch’.

“He put his hand around me and said thanks for a great game. That was David Pocock.

“For someone who has just missed out on winning the Webb Ellis trophy to come up to do that says a lot about the integrity of man himself and what a wonderful sport rugby is.”

MORE: The priceless moment Nigel Owens tells off Dan Carter during the World Cup final

Owens is set to move from the World Cup final to the lower Welsh leagues and Gowerton are gearing up for an extra special weekend when they welcome the referee for their match against Crymych on Saturday.

While a crowd of more than 80,000 watched the All Blacks take on the Wallabies, Gowerton’s clash with Crymych is set to be a different matter with the home side’s usual crowd numbering in the hundreds.

“I learned a lot a long time ago from a previous experience,” said Owens.

“I went from refereeing a Heineken Cup match and did a local schools game the week afterwards.

“I thought I was too good for the game. I had just reffed a Heineken Cup quarter-final game and I went to ref this game thinking it was below me.

“I was awful. I sent somebody off because he told me I was awful. That is the biggest regret I had because I sent a player off because I was awful.

“There will be less pressure on it for me. I won’t have 32 or 36 cameras looking at every decision and the pressure of someone lifting the Webb Ellis trophy after that.

“All that won’t be there, but I still have to go there and referee it.

“For the first time in a long time I am going to be on my own.

“I am going to have keep score and time and have no TMO to call on or help me.

“But I am going there to enjoy it and I will give it my best on Saturday as I did on the weekend.”

Owens is 44 and has reffed 68 Tests but is determined to try and carry on officiating until the next World Cup.

"We had a meeting with the World referees and they asked us what our plans are," added Owens.

"I said I am enjoying my refereeing and as along as I am reffing well and I am fit enough I want to go on until 2019.

"Their response was great and we are glad to hear that because we want you to be there in 2019.

"I just enjoy refereeing rugby. I will keep on doing as long as I can.

"When the time is right and I know the body can't take any more because of the travelling and pressures or the legs start going and you can't get there to make the big decisions, I will know that and will be calling it a day when that happens.

"But my plan at the moment is to go on until 2019."