Mike Titcomb, the youngest and arguably the best international rugby referee of his day, made a simple error in an Ireland-Wales match that so enraged the crowd that he needed a police escort to get off the pitch. It would have ended the career of a lesser man, but Titcomb went on to serve a record ten consecutive years on the International Panel, in which he refereed every leading rugby nation and took some of the most memorable matches of the century.

He was only 32 when given Wales-Scotland in 1966. His introduction to Cardiff Arms Park was a baptism both of fire and of water. The ground was a quagmire: The Times described conditions as “abysmal, with water lying on the pitch and heavy rain sweeping it from end to end”. Yet the teams overcame mud and wind to create what some called “the match of a lifetime”, won by Wales 8-3. Titcomb’s contribution — a blend of firmness and sympathetic understanding — was crucial.

His relaxed authority had wide appeal. When his school marked its 50 years of rugby with a match between Old Boys and Titcomb’s International XV, that team was studded with British Lions, fresh from a triumphant tour of New Zealand. Few referees were so popular with players.

Michael Herbert Titcomb was born in 1933 in Bristol. He was educated at St Brendan’s College; St Mary’s College, Twickenham; and Bristol University. His whole career was in Bristol, teaching, first at St Bernadette’s School, then at the university, finally at the polytechnic (now the University of the West of England). He took up the whistle only because an eye injury stopped him playing. His early years were unremarkable.

The top clubs then operated a closed shop in referees: they chose the officials they wanted. Welsh clubs rarely wanted anyone from England; and so the Bristol Referees Society, being neither fashionable nor influential, had great difficulty finding better games for its promising members.

Titcomb’s break came by chance when he was sent to referee a 3rd XV match at Moseley. The 1st XV referee failed to appear; Titcomb took his place and impressed the RFU assessors. Rugby was getting faster, and Titcomb — whose training regime included four-mile runs in mountaineering boots — was as fit as the players. But promotion to the county panel did not guarantee a stream of tough games to hone his skills: a week before he refereed Lancashire v Durham, he was in charge of South West Gas Board v Chipping Sodbury. That he reached the International Panel so quickly speaks much of his talent.

He took some unforgettable games. Five stand out. In 1969, when Oxford University beat South Africa 6-3, he refereed in a Twickenham almost empty apart from police and anti-apartheid protesters. The Scotland-Wales match of 1971 was “one of the great games of the century” — Scotland led four times and Wales three, until Wales won 18-19 with the final kick. The year 1971 was also the RFU’s centenary year, and when England played their President’s International XV, Titcomb became the only Englishman to referee his country in a recognised international match. Next year Llanelli beat the All Blacks 9-3 in a contest of do-or-die intensity that is vividly remembered in Wales.

And then there was Dublin in 1968.

In a typically full-blooded Celtic encounter Ireland led 6-3 at half-time. Nine minutes later the scores were tied when Titcomb awarded Wales a dropped goal which everyone else in the ground was convinced had missed. The crowd erupted in an outrage that threatened to become a riot. Police had to protect the referee. Bottles and oranges flew. “When they ran out of missiles,” Titcomb recalled later, “Irishmen threw other Irishmen.” The uproar caused a long delay. In the ninth minute of extra time, Ireland scored a try to win 9-3, and justice was done. Titcomb left the field with a police escort. When a friend tried to enter his dressing room, an Irish official barred his way. “I just want a word with him,” the friend said. “So do 50,000 Irishmen,” the official told him.

Later there was sympathy for Titcomb. It was a very grey day, with no floodlights; flag posts behind the goal might have been confusing; even the optical phenomenon known as parallax was discussed. Titcomb made no excuses: he’d got it wrong. As ever, he faced what he called “the third half”: meeting teams and officials after the match. Players responded to his honesty. Many years later he received a signed photograph from Willie John McBride, who was in that Irish team, with the words: “That drop goal was over.”

As well as nine international matches, Titcomb took five England trials and 26 county matches, including three finals. He refereed every visiting touring team, three Barbarians matches, the University match, the UAU Championship final, and a host of others, ranging from Welsh Youth v French Youth to Irish Universities v Rest of Ireland. In later years he founded British Polytechnics Rugby and was delighted when they defeated British Universities.

He is survived by his wife and three children.

Mike Titcomb, rugby union football referee, was born on April 23, 1933. He died of kidney failure on May 2, 2008, aged 75