Cue Hong Kong's top referee Tim Baker – based nearby after learning his originally scheduled game was cancelled – who was called up to help officiate the most memorable game for the home crowd and quite possibly the tournament.

The Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) senior match official's experience in adjudicating the Women's World Cup, the Six Nations and the French pro divisions certainly helped to settle the nerves.

“The last game got switched – I was originally meant to be doing Canada vs Namibia, but the typhoon hit all the transport so it got shut down,” said Baker, who officiated five matches as a fourth official or reserve assistant referee. “There was already a team of match officials up at the venue and I was still in Tokyo for the match between Japan and Scotland – I was pretty happy to be there.”

Even more fortuitous was that the man-in-the-middle for Japan vs Scotland was fellow Kiwi Ben O'Keefe, a former university flatmate who shared the same dream of becoming a world-class referee.

“That was the highlight for me, personally, because I grew up with Ben. We've come through the system together and to get to a World Cup ... there was something amazing about being on the world stage with him,” Baker said. “He is my best mate and to see him in the middle and to be able to support him on the sidelines was an incredible experience.”

Japan deservedly won the game 28-21, thrilling the neutrals and reintroducing itself to the rugby world as Asia's best team. While much of Tokyo's focus has been on the upcoming 2020 Olympics, Baker described the breathtaking scenes throughout the win.

“The Japanese fans went out of their way to learn the national anthem for their team – 60,000 Japanese people singing their own anthem, standing in red and white, it was amazing,” he said.

Baker also played a crucial officiating role in matches such as New Zealand vs South Africa and Ireland vs Scotland. The New Zealand game, in particular, required nerves of steel after it was halted by an early and controversial Head Injury Assessment (HIA) for loose forward Sam Cane.

Cane underwent a procedural HIA test at half-time by independent doctors having been knocked in the head after four minutes.

While Cane passed the test, officials rejected his return to the field because the 15-minute half-time lasted five minutes more than a player's maximum allotted 10 minutes for an HIA test. Kiwi coach Steve Hansen was obviously unhappy with the decision, but Baker – who was amid all the sideline tension – felt it was the correct call.

“The HIA was early in the game and it got back to myself and my colleague who had to make the decision in the end. We made the right decision, and the next day World Rugby was out with a new law and had the backing of us,” Baker recalled, adding there was pressure from all directions.

“We had the pressure to make the decision, using the World Rugby referee, people wanting the decision immediately, and having to tell the New Zealand team that they couldn't have one of their star players back on the field. You put all that together on the World Cup stage ... the pressure was real but I'm thankful.

“Having that happen in the fourth minute of the opening game is pretty massive – it was a good learning experience as I don't get to do that role very often because in Hong Kong I'm usually on the field.”

It was undoubtedly an experience of a lifetime for the man who perpetually aims to raise Hong Kong rugby's officiating standards. Fellow HKRU staff in reserve assistant referee Matt Rodden, match-day doctors David Owens and Ken Wu, and match-day medical observers Lucy Clarke, Chau Chi-wai and Karen So also represented Hong Kong at the World Cup.

Exposure to high-level officials from the world over – such as English international rugby union referee Wayne Barnes – gave Baker plenty of wisdom to bring home.

“I was very lucky working with those guys in a proper big game,” Baker said. “It helped open my eyes to a few things that I want to bring back to Hong Kong to help raise the standards of our young referees here.

“[Referees] have got to still remember that you're human and to just enjoy the occasion. It's not about getting the decisions right or wrong, but being a team player on and off the field. There's a bigger message that it's OK to relax after the game.

“To me it's about having empathy with and managing the players, and sometimes throwing the referee law book out the window to make a decision that everybody understands – players, stakeholders, all of them. We've always got the referee hat on but there's also a hat where you need player empathy and knowing what to blow up and what not to. It's a big balance that gets there with experience.

“Especially in Hong Kong, not everyone knows the laws here but the players are getting more and more educated and the game is better and better, so we [referees] have to lift our games, too.”

As Baker returns to the city's men's and women's rugby scene, as well as the newly launched Global Rapid Rugby league, his long-term aim is to reach the next Women's World Cup to be held in his native country.

“To be honest, the men's [World Cup] is probably a hurdle too far for those of us living in Asia,” Baker said, adding that much of the credit for Hong Kong's referees making it on the world level go to coach Hugh Watkins. “My realistic goal is to carry on refereeing for the women's Six Nations games and to be selected again for the 2021 Women's World Cup in New Zealand.

“I'll be representing Hong Kong but there will be a side of me that's a bit New Zealand.”