The IRB have just released the referee teams for the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia.
The eye catching ones are the Lions tests – congrats to Romain Poite, Chris Pollock and Craig Joubert – but interestingly the midweek tests are all being refereed by “neutral” referees too – a change to the policy brought in on the last tour by former IRB refs chief Paddy O’Brien who used Lions home country referees on the last South Africa tour. So there are no Lions matches for the likes of Nigel Owens, Wayne Barnes and Alain Rolland. Nevertheless, congratulations to Glen Jackson, Jerome Garces and Jaco Peyper.
Here’s the full Lions list:
1 June 2013 – British & Irish Lions v Barbarians
Ref: Steve Walsh (ARU)
AR1: Lourens van der Merwe (SARU)
AR2: Angus Gardner (ARU)
TMO: Matt Goddard (ARU)
Reviewer: Young/Cole (ARU)
5 June 2013 – Western Force v British & Irish Lions
Ref: Glen Jackson (NZRU)
AR1: Jaco Peyper (SARFU)
AR2: Garratt Williamson (NZRU)
TMO: NZRU
Reviewer Young/Cole (ARU)
8 June 2013 – Queensland Reds v British & Irish Lions
Ref: Jaco Peyper (SARFU)
AR1: Jerome Garces (FFR)
AR2: Garratt Williamson (NZRU)
TMO: NZRU
Reviewer: Young/Cole (ARU)
11 June 2013 – Comb NSW/Queensland Country v British & Irish Lions
Ref: Jerome Garces (FFR)
AR1: Glen Jackson (NZRU)
AR2: Jaco Peyper (SARFU)
TMO: NZRU
Reviewer: Young/Cole (ARU)
15 June 2013- NSW Waratahs v British & Irish Lions
Ref: Jaco Peyper (SARFU)
AR1: Jerome Garces (FFR)
AR2: Glen Jackson (NZRU)
TMO: NZRU
Reviewer: Young/Cole (ARU)
18 June 2013 – ACT Brumbies v British & Irish Lions
Ref: Jerome Garces (FFR)
AR1: Craig Joubert (SARFU)
AR2: Jaco Peyper (SARFU)
TMO: NZRU
Reviewer: Young/Cole (ARU)
22 June 2013 – Australia v British & Irish Lions
Ref: Chris Pollock (NZRU)
AR1: Craig Joubert (SARFU)
AR2: Romain Poite (FFR)
TMO: Vinny Munro (NZRU)
Reviewer: Clayton Thomas (WRU)
25 June 2013 – Melbourne Rebels v British & Irish Lions
Ref: Glen Jackson (NZRU)
AR1: Romain Poite (FFR)
AR2: Craig Joubert (SARFU)
TMO: Ben Skeen (NZRU)
Reviewer: Lyndon Bray (NZRU/SANZAR)
29 June 2013 – Australia v British & Irish Lions
Ref: Craig Joubert (SARFU)
AR1: Chris Pollock (NZRU)
AR2: Romain Poite (FFR)
TMO: Ben Skeen (NZRU)
Reviewer: Lyndon Bray (NZRU/SANZAR)
6 July 2013 – Australia v British & Irish Lions
Ref: Romain Poite (FFR)
AR1: Chris Pollock (NZRU)
AR2: Craig Joubert (SARFU)
TMO: Vinny Munro (NZRU)
Reviewer: Tappe Henning (SARFU)
