It will be the 39-year-old Owens’ 75th Magners League contest and means a quick return to Limerick after controlling the Play-Off game between Munster and the Ospreys.
One of the elite 10 officials named for refereeing duty at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, where each will referee at least four Pool matches, Owens has been one of the world’s top officials for a number of years and is no stranger to a Munster v Leinster head-to-head.
One of Mynyddcerrig-born Owens’ favourite rugby memories is the 2009 Heineken Cup semi-final between the two great Irish rivals in front of world record club crowd of 82,208 fans at Croke Park. He was also in charge of the Play-Off game between the two Grand Finalists in Dublin last year, when Leinster beat Munster 16-6.
Owens, who controlled his 27th IRB Test when Ireland beat Scotland at Murrayfield in the 2011 RBS 6 Nations after making his international refereeing bow in the 2003 IRB match between Portugal and Georgia, has refereed two Heineken Cup finals – and today’s teams were both involved and the winners in those showpiece matches.
He was in the middle when Munster beat Toulouse 16-13 at the Millennium Stadium in 2008 and when Leinster triumphed 19-16 against Leicester Tigers at Murrayfield 12 months later.
The 2011 World Cup will be Owens’ second global tournament following his World Cup debut in Lyon, France, for the Argentina against Georgia match. He will be on duty at the Churchill Cup in England next month and returns to Ireland for the World Cup warm-up match between Brian O’Driscoll’s side and England at the Aviva Stadium on 27 August.
His Assistant Referees are fellow Welsh officials Tim Hayes, who is also heading to the Rugby World Cup as a touch judge, and David Jones
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