A former international netball umpire and Investec Super Rugby player are among a 34-strong National Referee Squad announced by New Zealand Rugby for the 2019 season.
Former Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and Chiefs’ scrum half, Daniel Waenga, and New Zealand Netball Umpire, Jono Bredin are among the 12 new referees in the squad.
The 34 National Squad referees will officiate in a range of competitions, including Investec Super Rugby (professional referees only), Mitre 10 Cup, Mitre 10 Heartland Championship, Farah Palmer Cup, Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under 19 Tournament and other domestic fixtures.
Bredin (left), who was New Zealand Netball’s umpire of the Year in 2015 and 2016 and took charge of the 2018 Commonwealth Games netball gold medal match, said he was looking forward to his new challenge.“I’ve had a great netball umpiring career and signed off at the top this year with the gold medal match and Premiership Final. I achieved everything I wanted to in the sport and have decided now is the time to throw all my effort into rugby refereeing and challenge myself outside of my comfort zone.”
Bredin said he was encouraged to transition to rugby three years ago by Wellington-based professional rugby referee Ben O’Keeffe. “I worked closely with Ben when I was umpiring. We did some training sessions together to share ideas and he encouraged me to have a crack at rugby. So far I’ve been struck by how helpful and accepting everyone is and how keen they are to help. The plan is to repay some of that faith.”
Former Chiefs player Waenga (right) has recently hung up his boots and joins fellow squad members Glen Jackson, Jamie Nutbrown and Rebecca Mahoney as former players turned referees.
Returning to the squad for 2019 are professional referees, Glen Jackson, Nick Briant, Mike Fraser, Ben O’Keeffe, Paul Williams and Brendon Pickerill. They will vie for potential selection for next year’s Rugby World Cup.
Sevens rugby-specialists Richard Kelly and James Doleman are set to feature heavily in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series this season, as well as Lauren Jenner, who has been appointed for the World Rugby Sevens Series for the first time. Lauren joins Rebecca Mahoney in the squad for the first time, as well as four other new female referees – Brittany Andrew, Maggie Cogger–Orr, Larissa Collingwood and Monique Dalley.
NZR National Referee Manager, Bryce Lawrence, said selectors were focused on building strength and depth towards Rugby World Cup 2019 and an increase in domestic competition matches in 2019.
“I challenged our selectors to be bold and brave and I am delighted with the squad chosen. Next year will be huge with the Rugby World Cup in Japan and we are hoping to have at least four match officials selected for that pinnacle event,” he said. “With the women’s game growing at a fast-rate and other domestic competitions constantly increasing in quality, we need to build depth and internal competition within our national squad to ensure we have enough quality referees to match the volume of games being played.”
With one eye on the future, Lawrence said he was excited to see the current group of referees to push for selection at both Super Rugby and Test match level. “We understand that it takes anywhere between two to five years to develop a referee in the high performance environment and I am really interested in how each referee will respond to the opportunities and challenges. It is encouraging to see so many referees come through the programme and I am excited about what 2019 holds.”
2019 New Zealand Rugby National Referee Squad:
Glen Jackson (Professional referee) – Bay of Plenty
Nick Briant (Professional referee)- Bay of Plenty
Mike Fraser (Professional referee) – Wellington
Ben O’Keeffe (Professional referee) – Wellington
Paul Williams (Professional referee) – Taranaki
Brendon Pickerill (Professional referee) – North Harbour
Jamie Nutbrown – Canterbury
Angus Mabey – Auckland
Richard Kelly – Taranaki
James Doleman – Otago
Cam Stone – Taranaki
Michael Winter – Waikato
James Munro – Canterbury
Tim Griffiths – Manawatu
Nick Webster – North Otago
Hugh Reed – Hawke’s Bay
Tipene Cottrell – Hawke’s Bay
Damien McPherson – Poverty Bay
Nick Hogan – Wellington
Rebecca Mahoney – Wairarapa Bush
Stuart Curran* – Otago
Jono Bredin* – Otago
Marcus Playle* – Auckland
Chris Paul* – South Canterbury
Brittany Andrew* – Manawatu
Maggie Cogger–Orr* – Auckland
Lauren Jenner* – Counties Manukau
Daniel Waenga* – Hawke’s Bay
George Haswell* – Canterbury
Daniel Moore* – Canterbury
Larissa Collingwood* – Waikato
Monique Dalley* – Wellington
Vincent Ringrose** – Wellington
Richard Gordon** – Wellington
* = new to the National Squad
** = a comeback to the National Squad
