New Zealand Rugby have announced a thirty-one strong National Referee Squad for 2022.
The squad provides the match officials for the National Provincial Cup, the Farah Palmer Cup and the Heartland Championships. This year’s high performance squad is made up of a mix of experience, with the familiar names of Nick Briant, Mike Fraser, Ben O’Keeffe, Paul Williams, Brendon Pickerill and James Doleman all refereeing over 100 First Class matches. Fraser and Briant return for their 16th and 14th seasons respectively, with Briant just six appointments away from bringing up 200 First Class matches.
At the other end of the scale, the squad features four new referees, Will Johnston, Andrew Morton (a recent transfer from England), Georgia Mason and Erin Doherty, as well as a return to the group for Natarsha Ganley. With Lauren Jenner and Maggie Cogger-Orr focussed on their international readiness ahead of RWC in October, the NZ squad has been bolstered by some new female referees as Erin and Georgia are joined by Garnley from North Harbour. They will likely see more game time in the Farah Palmer Cup at least.
New Zealand National Referee Squad 2022
- Jono Bredin (Hawke’s Bay)
- Nick Briant (Bay of Plenty)
- Stu Catley (Hawke’s Bay)
- Maggie Cogger-Orr (Auckland)
- Stu Curran (Manawatu)
- Erin Doherty* (Otago)
- James Doleman (Otago)
- Mike Fraser (Wellington)
- Natarsha Ganley (North Harbour)
- Fraser Hannon (Otago)
- George Haswell (Canterbury)
- Jackson Henshaw (South Canterbury)
- Nick Hogan (Hawke’s Bay)
- Lauren Jenner (Counties Manukau)
- Will Johnston* (Taranaki)
- Angus Mabey (Auckland)
- Georgia Mason* (Southland)
- Daniel Moore (Canterbury)
- Andrew Morton* (Bay of Plenty)
- Tiana Ngawati (Bay of Plenty)
- Ben O’Keeffe (Horowhenua Kapiti)
- Brendon Pickerill (North Harbour)
- Marcus Playle (Auckland)
- Cam Stone (Taranaki)
- Taneika Uerata (Canterbury)
- Dan Waenga (Hawke’s Bay)
- Cassie Watt (Southland)
- Paul Williams (Taranaki)
- Michael Winter (Waikato)
- Larissa Woolerton (Waikato)
- Ben Woolerton (Waikato)
*Denotes selection to the squad for the first time.
Lawrence to leave referee manager role
After five years, National Referee Manager, Bryce Lawrence (pic left before he retired from refereeing) is to leave that role to take up a new opportunity with NZR as Head of Training and Education. As well as being New Zealand’s National Referee Manager, Lawrence is one of the World Rugby referee selectors covering the southern hemisphere, a role he will continue to fulfil. He fills a space vacated by Mike Chu who has moved to a role within World Rugby.
It is believed NZR are actively recruiting to replace Lawrence in a crucial role for the nation’s rugby structure.
