New Year’s 2025 referee appointments

Happy New Year to you, dear reader! The joy of Christmas and New Year falling midweek means that we have ‘normal’ league weekend’s either side, and so most of our elite match officials are still all active!

That said, there’s no URC this weekend, but we do have the referee appointments, plus supporting crews, for the Celtic Challenge, Premiership, PWR, Top 14 and Japan One to keep you occupied.

Starting with the cross-border Celtic Challenge women’s competition, Chelsea Gillespie (pictured top right) will look after the match in Edinburgh who host the Byron Thunder. The other two matches are at the Kingspan in Belfast with the other Welsh team Gwalia, and Glasgow travelling over to play the Clovers and the Wolfhounds.

In France, Luc Ramos (top left) looks after top team Toulouse who travel to La Rochelle. Sara Cox (bottom left) picks up her 9th Premiership match with a short trip from the south west to…erm.. Newcastle. And over in Japan, Ibuki Tetsuka (bottom right) will referee the Sungoliath team from Tokyo who will hoping to get their poor start to the season corrected as they head west to the city of Toyota.

Enjoy 2025!
Keith

Celtic Challenge Cup

Clovers v Gwalia Lightening
Referee: Christopher Lough (Ire)
ARs: Peter McClure (Ire) & Chris Elliott (Ire)

Wolfhounds v Glasgow Warriors
Referee: Robbie Jenkinson (Ire)
ARs: Rob McGreer (Ire) & Ross Whitfield (Ire)

Edinburgh Rugby v Brython Thunder
Referee: Chelsea Gillespie (Sco)
ARs: Samuel O’Neil (Sco) & Ciaran Stark (Sco)

England: Gallagher Premiership – round 10

Newcastle Falcons v Harlequins
Referee: Sara Cox (9th Premiership game)
ARs: Ian Tempest & Jonathan Healy
TMO: Dean Richards

Gloucester Rugby v Sale Sharks
Referee: Jack Makepeace (25th Premiership game)
ARs: George Selwood & Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Peter Allan

Leicester Tigers v Exeter Chiefs
Referee:  Christophe Ridley (84th Premiership game)
ARs: Craig Maxwell-Keys & John Meredith
TMO: Andrew Jackson

Saracens v Bristol Bears
Referee: Matthew Carley (147th Premiership game)
ARs: Hamish Smales & Wayne Falla
TMO: David Rose

Northampton Saints v Bath Rugby
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe (37th Premiership appointment)
ARs: Dan Jones & Calum Howard
TMO: Stuart Terheege

England: The PWR

Trailfinders Women v Harlequins Women
Referee: Hamish Grant
ARs: Jamie Parr & James Pidding

Leicester Tigers Women v Sale Sharks Women
Referee: Alex Thomas
ARs: Neil Chivers & James Clarke

Bristol Bears Women v Gloucester-Hartpury Women
Referee: Joe James
ARs: Holly Wood & Kevin Williams

Loughborough Lightning v Saracens Women
Referee: Harry Walbaum
ARs: Charlie Gayther & Veryan Boscawen

France: Top 14 – round 14

RC Toulon v Racing 92
Referee: Ludovic Cayre
ARs: Jonathan Gasnier & Thierry Mallet
TMO: Cedric Marchat

Castres Olympique v Section Paloise
Referee: Adrien Marbot
ARs: Richard Duhau & Vivien Praderie
TMO: Denis Grenouillet

LOU Rugby v USA Perpignan
Referee: Tual Trainini
ARs: Thomas Charabas & Ghyslain Elias
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure

Montpellier Hérault Rugby v Aviron Bayonnais
Referee: Jeremy Rozier
ARs: Pierre Bru & Christophe Bultet
TMO: Patrick Dellac

Stade Français Paris v Union Bordeaux-Bègles
Referee: Kevin Bralley
ARs: Vincent Blasco Baque & Stephane Boyer
TMO: Julien Castaignede

Stade Rochelais v Stade Toulousain
Referee: Luc Ramos
ARs: Laurent Millotte & Benoit Rousselet
TMO: Jean Luc Rebollal

RC Vannes v ASM Clermont
Referee: Pierre Baptiste Nuchy
ARs: Sylvain Jaymes & Evan Urruzmendi
TMO: Mourad Zitouni

Japan: League One

Division 1

MITSUBISHI DYNABOARS v SHIZUOKA BLUE REVS
Referee: Takehito Namekawa
ARs: Atsushi Yamamoto & Teruki Inanishi
TMO:Minoru Fuji

BLACK RAMS TOKYO v SAITAMA WILD KNIGHTS
Referee: Masaki Kondou
ARs: Tasuku Kawahara & Motonori Mizutani
TMO:Yosuke Kimura

TOKYO SUNGOLIATH v TOYOTA VERBLITZ
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka
ARs: Ryoji Hirose & Kouhei Osawa
TMO:Katsuki Furuse

URAYASU D-Rocks v YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES
Referee: Toshimasa Sekiya
ARs: Teruhisa Kajiwara & Hiroshi Kitamura
TMO:Yoshiyuki Nino

TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS v KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS
Referee: Koki Yamauchi
ARs: Takehito Namekawa & Teruki Inanishi
TMO:Tasuku Kawahara

MIE HONDA HEAT v KUBOTA SPEARS
Referee: Katsuki Furuse
ARs: Marcus Playle (NZ) & Ibuki Tetsuka
TMO:Tomohiro Koyama

Division 2

HINO RED DOLPHINS v HANAZONO KINTETSU LINERS
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa
ARs: Motonori Mizutani & Kenta Mitsui
TMO:Yosuke Kimura

Division 3

LeRIRO FUKUOKA v CHUDEN RED REGULIONS
Referee: Ano Kuwai
ARs: Sota Ohuchi & Shuhei Hamada