Some big pressure games for match officials this weekend. After a week of angst in the southern hemisphere over missed foul play, concerns over over-familiarity, and some subsequent referee changes, they’ll all be wanting a quieter weekend, and fewer phone calls heading into Lyndon Bray’s mobile early next week.
In the north, it’s a series of high-pressure semi-finals or playoff matches. In the Pro14 and Aviva Premiership in England, it’s semi-finals, with John Lacey, Stuart Berry, JP Doyle and Matthew Carley overseeing respective matters.
Then there’s a PRO14 play-off (to determine the 7th PRO14 representative in next season’s Champions Cup spot) which will be refereed by Marius Mitrea, and in France, there’s play-offs to determine who gets to play Racing 92 and Montpellier in the Top 14 semi-finals next week. The experienced Romain Poite and Mathieu Raynal are in charge there.
Here’s hoping for fewer column inches on referees next week!
Here’s a nice video of the Pro14 referees preparing for their upcoming final series matches:
PRO14 Semifinals
Glasgow Warriors v Scarlets
Referee: John Lacey (Ire)
ARs: Andrew Brace (Ire) & Frank Murphy (Ire)
TMO: Ollie Hodges (Ire)
Leinster v Munster
Referee: Stuart Berry (SA)
ARs: Ben Whitehouse (Wal) & Mike Adamson (Sco)
TMO: Neil Paterson (Sco)
PRO14 Play-off
Ulster v Ospreys
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Ita)
ARs: Lloyd Linton (Sco) & Gianluca Gnecchi (Ita)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Sco)
Super Rugby, Round 14
Hurricanes v Queensland Reds
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ)
ARs: James Doleman (NZ) & Richard Kelly (NZ)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZ)
Waratahs v Highlanders
Referee: Brendon Pickerill (NZ)
ARs: William Houston (Aus) & Graham Cooper (Aus)
TMO: George Ayoub (Aus)
Blues v Crusaders
Referee: Glen Jackson (NZ)
ARs: Cam Stone (NZ) & Angus Mabey (NZ)
TMO: Shane McDermott (NZ)
Lions v Brumbies
Referee: Nick Briant (NZ)
ARs: Quinton Immelman (SA) & Stephen Geldenhuys (SA)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SA)
Sharks v Chiefs
Referee: Mike Fraser (NZ)
ARs: Marius van der Westhuizen (SA) & Archie Sehlako (SA)
TMO: Willie Vos (SA)
Sunwolves v Stormers
Referee: Nic Berry (Aus)
ARs: Shuhei Kubo (Jpn) & Tasuku Kawahara (Jpn)
TMO: Minoru Fuji (Jpn)
Jaguares v Bulls
Referee: Federico Anselmi (Arg)
TMO: Paul Williams (NZ) & Pablo Deluca (Arg)
TMO: Santiago Borsani (Arg)
Aviva Premiership Semifinals
Saracens v Wasps
Referee: JP Doyle
ARs: Ian Tempest & Hamish Smales
TMO: Graham Hughes
Exeter Chiefs v Newcastle Falcons
Referee: Matthew Carley
ARs: Tom Foley & Anthony Woodthorpe
TMO: Stuart Terheege
Top 14 Play-offs
Toulon v Lyons
Referee: Mathieu Raynal
ARs: Alexandre Ruiz & Thomas Charabas
TMO: Denis Grenouillet
Toulouse v Castres
Referee: Romain Poite
ARs: Ludovic Cayre & Cyril Lafon
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure
The missing of foul play committed by Moody – and the marked imbalance of penalties against the Waratahs-by a young ref from the country of one of the teams- emphasises the point that one regularly hears made in conversations in the rugby milieu that “justice needs manifestly to appear to be done”. Is it the naivete of your senior officials that is at the base of various negatively perceived decisions continuing to be made, re referee appointments? You may have explained your position on occasions but I’ve never seen it. Another example: I’ve previously commented (and had a letter in The Times) on the serious lack of judgement involved when World Rugby (Linden and his team?) allowed an enquiry to take place into Joubert’s decision in the Scottish-Australian match, with an immediate past Australian ex coach (Robbie Deans)- who might have been perceived as having an axe to grind in respect of being passed over or might have been seen as being in favour of Australia – as a member of the 3 man panel. But it was the flagrantly exceptional singling out of this one decision (by Joubert) that was appalling. These issues are too weighty for your approach – which is causing growing opposition – to be acceptable.