As the countdown to the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 kicks in, World Rugby has announced the referee team for both male and female tournaments.
The group of 19 match officials from 14 nations will gather in San Francisco in less than 100 days. They will take charge of a total of 84 matches over the three-day event from 20-22 July in what promises to be spectacular and ground-breaking men’s and women’s tournaments.
A highly experienced team of ten match officials will preside over 52 matches in the 24-team men’s competition. The are:
- Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa),
- Richard Kelly (New Zealand),
- Craig Evans (Wales),
- Sam Grove-White (Scotland),
- Damon Murphy (Australia),
- Jeremy Rozier (France),
- Matt Rodden (Hong Kong),
- Richard Haughton (England),
- Damian Schneider (Argentina),
- Mike O’Brien (USA).
The 16-team women’s event involves 32 matches and will be officiated by a team of nine experienced referees:
- Alhambra Nievas (Spain),
- Joy Neville (Ireland),
- Sara Cox (England),
- Adam Jones (Wales),
- Ben Crouse (South Africa),
- Sakurako Kawasaki (Japan),
- Hollie Davidson (Scotland),
- Rebecca Mahoney (New Zealand),
- Beatrice Benvenuti (Italy).
The team includes Joy Neville, honoured as Referee of the Year at last year’s World Rugby Awards, Rasta Rasivhenge and Alhambra Nievas – previously refereed the men’s and women’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games rugby sevens gold medal matches respectively.
Poachers into Gamekeepers
For many, this isn’t their first big tournament outings, but maybe the first as referees. Rebecca Mahoney (left) is a double Women’s Rugby World Cup winner with New Zealand, Richard Haughton won a 2006 Commonwealth Games silver medal with England and was one of the quickest players of his generation, while Damon Murphy also represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, finishing in fourth place.
Paddy O’Brien, World Rugby’s High Performance Sevens Referees Manager said, “The Rugby World Cup Sevens only comes around once in every four years and is a major highlight of the sevens calendar. Just like the players, our team of highly experienced match officials are preparing themselves both mentally and physically, ready to play their part in what is destined to be an outstanding showcase of rugby sevens in an iconic venue.”