IRB lifeline for controversial ref
Controversial referee Steve Walsh’s two-year exile from the highest level of the game is set to come to an end in November.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) announced Wednesday he would be in charge for Wales’s match against world champions South Africa in November.
The native New Zealander was effectively frozen out of top-level fixtures after turning up drunk to a conference of leading southern hemisphere referees in Sydney in 2008.
A year later, Walsh was stood down by the New Zealand Rugby Union.
But the 38-year-old has since revived his whistle-blowing career in Australia.
Now, as well as Wales’s clash with the Springboks at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on November 13, Walsh is also set to take charge of Scotland’s match against Samoa at Aberdeen football club’s Pittodrie ground on November 27.
However, his career in Australia has not been without controversy with Walsh so heavily criticised by the Wallabies’ Matt Giteau for his role in the Brumbies loss to domestic Super 14 rivals the Waratahs in April, he was replaced as referee for the Brumbies’ next match.
Walsh returned to the international stage in the low profile Pacific Nations Cup match between Japan and Samoa in June, but the Wales-South Africa clash will be Walsh’s first ‘Tier One’ fixture since February 2008.
“It is good to see Steve Walsh return to the international referee panel,” said IRB referees’ manager Paddy O’Brien, the New Zealander adding Walsh had “impressed the selectors” and “deserved his reward”.
Ireland’s Alain Rolland, the 2007 World Cup Final referee, will be the man in the middle when New Zealand face Australia in the fourth Bledisloe Cup match to be played in Hong Kong on October 30.
That fixture heralds the start of a busy international period for the game of rugby, with both the All Blacks and the Springboks involved in Grand Slam tours of Britain and Ireland in November.
The October-December ‘Tier One’ appointments:
Saturday, October 30:
New Zealand v Australia
Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong
Referee: A Rolland
Assistant referees: G Clancy, S McDowell
TMO: M Goddard
Saturday, November 6:
Wales v Australia
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: W Barnes
Assistant referees: C Pollock, P Allan
TMO: G Hughes
England v New Zealand
Twickenham, London
Referee: R Poite
Assistant referees: S Dickinson, D Changleng
TMO: G De Santis
Ireland v South Africa
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: N Owens
Assistant referees: B Lawrence, K Brown
TMO: H Watkins
Saturday, November 13:
England v Australia
Twickenham, London
Referee: C Joubert
Assistant referees: C Berdos, S McDowell
TMO: J Yuille
Ireland v Samoa
International
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: K Brown
Assistant referees: J Garces, N Paterson
TMO: G Warren
Wales v South Africa
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: S Walsh
Assistant referees: B Lawrence, S Terheege
TMO: G Hughes
Italy v Argentina
Stadio M Bentegodi, Verona
Referee: C Pollock
Assistant referees: R Poite, P Gauzere
TMO: D Gillet
Scotland v New Zealand
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Referee: D Pearson
Assistant referees: W Barnes, R Goodliffe
TMO: G De Santis
France v Fiji
Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
Referee: A Small
Assistant referees: N Owens, J Jones
TMO: C Damasco
Uruguay v Romania (RWCQ)
Charrua Stadium, Montevideo
Referee: M Lawrence
Assistant referees: F Pastrana, J Mancuso
TMO: TBC
Friday, November 19:
Wales v Fiji
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: J Garces
Assistant referees: S Walsh, R Debney
TMO: D Gillet
Saturday, November 20:
England v Samoa
Twickenham, London
Referee: P Fitzgibbon
Assistant referees: A Lewis, C Wessels
TMO: G De Santis
Scotland v South Africa
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Referee: S Dickinson
Assistant referees: A Rolland, F Pastrana
TMO: T Redmond
Italy v Australia
Stadio A Franchi, Florence
Referee: C Berdos
Assistant referees: R Poite, T Hayes
TMO: G Warren
Ireland v New Zealand
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: M Jonker
Assistant referees: C Joubert, C Damasco
TMO: H Watkins
France v Argentina
Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
Referee: J Kaplan
Assistant referees: N Owens, A Macpherson
TMO: J Yuille
Saturday, November 27:
Romania v Uruguay (RWCQ)
National Stadium, Bucharest
Referee: A Rolland
Assistant referees: FFR
England v South Africa
Twickenham, London
Referee: G Clancy
Assistant referees: P Fitzgibbon, S McDowell
TMO: I Ramage
Scotland v Samoa
Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen
Referee: S Walsh
Assistant referees: M Jonker, C Wessels
TMO: T Redmond
Italy v Fiji
Stadio Braglia, Modena
Referee: D Pearson
Assistant referees: C Berdos, J Jones
TMO: G Hughes
Wales v New Zealand
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: A Lewis
Assistant referees: J Kaplan, D Changleng
TMO: G De Santis
France v Australia
Stade de France, Paris
Referee: B Lawrence
Assistant referees: W Barnes, C Damasco
TMO: H Watkins
Sunday, November 28:
Ireland v Argentina
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: M Lawrence
Assistant referees: N Owens, S Terheege
TMO: D Gillet
Saturday, December 4:
Barbarians v South Africa
Twickenham, London
Referee: P Gauzere
Assistant referees: C Berdos, P Allan
TMO: RFU
AFP
