JWRC referees in profile
The International Rugby Board appointed eight referees to the 2012 Junior World Championships being played in the Western Cape of South Africa. We give short profiles of each of them.
It was a wonderful opportunity for them – just the refereeing, then the huge exposure but above all the involvement of the world's top refereeing adminstrators – Paddy O'Brien and the four selectors Lynson Bray, Donal Courtney, Tappe Henning and Clayron Thomas.
JP Doyle (England)
In September 1979 His Holiness Pope John Paul II visited Ireland, the first pope ever to do so. On 3 August 1979 baby Doyle was born in Dublin and at his baptism he was christened John Paul, known generally in rugby circles as JP.
JP was educated at Terenure College, the Carmelite foundation in Dublin with its strong rugby tradition, and then at St Mary's University College in Twickenham which specialises in the education of teachers. Off JP went to become a primary school teacher, but now he is a full-time, professional rugby referee.
It is a common route for referees – player-injury-schoolmaster-referee. JP was injured and had surgery to his back. Off he went to join the London Society of Rugby Referees, the biggest such society in the world. That was in 2002. Since then his progress has been good – England;'s national panel in 2006 and then in 2008 the professional panel. Now he is one of the eight referees at the Junior World Championship, his third tournament for he was in Argentina in 2010 and Italy in 2011.
He has refereed Test matches. In the European Nations Cup JP has refereed Romania vs Georgia, Romania vs Russia and Germany vs Russia. He has also refereed French Barbarians vs Tonga. There were other Top matches in the Heineken Cup and England's Premiership. He rates his highlights up to now as the Commonwealth gold medal match at the Sevens in 2010 and the Final of the LV= Cup final in 2012.
JP speaks of Tony Spreadbury as a great help in his career and of role models Roger Federer and Captain Ian Martin.
What he likes about refereeing: "I love being in the middle of all the competition. It's the best seat in the house.
Angus Gardner (Australia)
Angus Gardner is a young (not yet 30) referee who started refereeing in 1999, when he was 15, and has made wonderful strides recently which include his first Test and his first Super Rugby Match. Now he is a referee at the Junior World Championship. His feet are on the ladder.
As is often the case, injury forced Angus to take up refereeing 'for rehab purposes and part of that was getting back out onto the field and running around again' when he was at Shore, the North Sydney Great Public School. Rehab has become a career.
In 2011 Angus, called Gus by his mates, refereed his first Test – Papua New Guinea vs Vanuatu in Port Moresby, an Oceania Cup match. He has also refereed matches involving Tonga and Canada, provincial matches in New Zealand and top club matches in Sydney. Then he says with excitement: "This year I made my Super Rugby debut Reds vs Rebels in Round 3, an amazing experience."
This is his first Junior World Championship match. He says of it: "It's a fantastic tournament to be involved with both on and off the field. The ability to be in such a positive learning environment and the knowledge, resources and experience available to you are top class."
When he speaks of his highlights, he mentions that Super Rugby debut in Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
Of course, he had help along the way. St Dickinson was his role model as he made his way through the ranks. "Lately we have been very lucky in Australia to now have Steve Walsh as a big part of our refereeing group. To draw on his knowledge and experiences has been invaluable and he has acted as a mentor to me since coming over. I am looking forward to travelling over to Port Elizabeth to watch him the third South Africa vs England Test.
"My referee coaches back home Andrew Cole and John McCarthy have also be instrumental in getting me to this point and I wouldn't be where I am without them."
What he likes about refereeing: "The experiences and places you have and visit along the way and most of all the people you form friendships with along the journey."
Angus Ross Gardner, a property developer, was born in Sydney on 24 August 1984. In November last year he refereed his first Test. A month later he was married to Nicole.
Greg Garner (England)
Greg Garner of England has been appointed to referee the Final of the Junior World Championship, clearly a most prestigious appointment made by top refereeing officials of the International Rugby Board.
The IRB's top selectors are in Cape Town for the tournament – Tappe Henning, Donal Courtney, Lyndon Bray and Clayton Thomas with the IRB's refereeing manager Paddy O'Brien. They chose Garner to do the Final.
The referee who refereed last year's Final, Jaco Peyper is now on the IRB's merit panel of nine referees. Clearly, Garner has great opportunities. While such positions are not nationality bound it is strange that England does not have one on the panel, since the dropping of Wayne Barnes and Dave Pearson.
Garner started refereeing in 2000, going the route of many injuries injured player, schoolmaster. He played for Nottingham University, damaged a shoulder one year and sustained a gash behind his ear the next year., A maths teacher and a rugby player meant that inevitably he refereed schools matches. The taste for refereeing, the love of the game, the warning of injury and the persuasion of Ian Roberts sent him to the Warwickshire Referees' Society.
His progress has been good and he is now an ex-maths teacher for he is currently a full-time, professional referee, free to roam the world as top referees do. Apart from England's Premiership, Garner has refereed in the Heineken Cup, the Amlin Challenge Cup, the LV= Cup, the Churchill Cup, the Nations Cup and the European Nations Cup. In this there are Test matches -0 Canada vs Georgia, Portugal vs Namibia, Russia vs Romania and Georgia vs Spain.
For him the highlights of his career have been the Commonwealth Games Sevens in Delhi in 2010, refereeing Saracens vs Harlequins at Wembley this season in front a world record crowd, the Churchill Cup in Denver in 2009 and the Junior World Rugby Championship in Italy in 2011 when refereed the semifinal between New Zealand and Australia. This time it's the Final.
On this 2012 Junior World Championship, Garner says: "This is my second JWC having been to Italy in 2011. It's a great tournament and a chance for the next generation of referees to get to know each other and more importantly learn from each other about aspects of the game worldwide."
There have been great achievements, not without help. "Ian Roberts helped me progress up the local and national leagues. I've been lucky enough to work very closely with Tony Spreadbury and Brian Campsall over the last four years. They both achieved a tremendous amount in the game and have helped me progress within the professional game."
What he likes about refereeing: "Being able to be involved in top class matches and being able to watch them from the middle of the pitch. I've been to a lot of great places around the world that I wouldn't have been to without rugby and I've met some fantastic people along the way and hopefully will continue to do for several years to come."
Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Glen Jackson, who was born at Feilding on 23 October 1975, had a great playing career and already he is on the way to becoming an outstanduing referee.
A flyhalf, he played for Bay of Plenty, the Chiefs, the New Zealand Maori, Saracens and the Barbarians – everything a player could wish for, bar only the All Blacks. And there was success. When he played for the Steamers, they won the Ranfurly Shield (2004). He played for the Chiefs from 1999 to 2004 when the Chiefs made the semifinal, losing to the Brumbies. In 2004 he was in the New Zealand Maori team that won the Churchill Cup and in 2004 he signed for Saracens in London. In 2006-07 he was the leading points' scorer in England's Premiership and was voted The Professional Rugby Players' Association player of the year. In 2010 he played for Saracens in the Final of the Premiership against Leicester Tigers. In 2009 he was elected a Barbarian.
That is a great career.
While at Saracens, as his playing career was coming to an end, Jackson started refereeing with the Hertfordshire Referees' Society and in 2010 he returned to New Zealand in June that year started refereeing, wanting to stay in the game he loved. New Zealand refereeing was quick to see the value of such an ex-player in its ranks and in 2010 already he refereed ITM Cup matches and in 2010 his first Super Rugby match, helped along the way by 'many good men and referees'. The highlights of his career so far was his first Super Rugby game and he enjoyed the experience of refereeing a Junior World Championship match at the Cape Town Stadium.
And then, for Jacko, it will be back to Tauranga and wife Fiona, son Payton and daughter Ella.
Francisco Pastrana (Argentina)
There are eight referees from around the world in Cape Town for the Junior World Rugby Championship, chosen men. If history is anything to go by they are referees like to climb the international ladder. One of them is Francisco Pastrana .
Pastrana was born in Buenos Aires – on 13 September 1979 – and lives in Buenos Aires, married to Maïté. He played flyhalf for the famous Hindu Club in Buenos Aires till injuries took their till and he was forced to stop playing.
In 2004 Pastrana started refereeing and now he is a full-time, professional rugby referee, roaming the world with a whistle in his bag.
He has been a match official in Europe, Australasia, Africa, Asia and South America – an intercontinental experience. This is in fact the third Junior World Championship that he has officiated out. He started at the Junior World Trophy in Kenya in 2009 and then the Junior World Championship in Argentina in 2010, then in Italy in 2011 and now in South Africa. This is not his first South African experience as last season he was a referee in the Vodacom Cup when the team from Argentina, the Pampas, took part for the first time.
He has also refereed in Australia and New Zealand as part of his gathering experience – an assistant in Super Rugby and a referee in club rugby.
He has refereed World Cup qualifiers – Uruguay vs Kazakhstan and Uruguay vs the USA. Apart from being the assistant referee when South Africa played Scotland at Murrayfield, he has refereed Portugal vs Canada.
Pastrana has also refereed on the IRB's Sevens circuit for three years and that, too, is an intercontinental experience.
At the end of all that he lists his highlights as a referee – the Hong Kong Sevens and the Junior World Championship.
Of course, he had help along the way – ' My wife and family and former referees Pablo Deluca, Osvaldo Ciarrocchi, Carlos Molinari.' And he has role models – Riquelme, a soccer player with Boca Juniors, and the tennis player Rafael Nadal
Clearly he is successful at refereeing and clearly he enjoys it – 'I am still playing the game.'
Mathieu Raynal (France)
Mathieu Raynal from Perpignan, the famous rugby city down on the Spanish border, is a sports teacher who has been a referee since he was 20. Now he is one of the eight referees at the Junior World Championship, a man near the top of the refereeing world.
Being from Perpignan means that he is a Catalan, an identity that flows over into Cataluña in Spain, a more militant part of the Catalans than the French side where the home language of modern Catalans is French and conversation in Catalan mainly confined to the older generation. It is much the same with the Basques on the Atlantic seaboard. Apart from speaking French and Catalan, Mathieu's English is fluent.
Short though it was, Mathieu's playing career was not insignificant. "I played rugby for Perpignan USAP, and I was part of the successful Perpignan team in 1998 which won the junior championships in France. Then I played for the University of Perpignan in 2001 and participated in their rugby structures as I was privileged to represent their first team."
In 2000 Mathieu joined his local referees' society, Pays Catalan. The reason for refereeing? "I had a team-mate who was a player (a hooker). We studied in the same university and we played for the same club and there was a lot of travelling, approximately 100km every day for training but I wanted to focus on my studies and I decided to start refereeing as I wanted to stay in the rugby environment and be part of the sport."
The young referee – he is 30 now – made progress. "I progressed to Federal Divisions which led me to achieving my goals and being promoted to Federal Division 2 and 1. Then I was promoted to the Pro D2, the second division of professional rugby in France, and then got to the top league in France which is the top 14 panel. My first game in the professional division was in 2006 when I refereed Grenoble vs Toulon's. Presently I am refereeing in the Top 14 and the European Cup." He has refereed a Test – Georgia vs Russia in the European Nations Cup – and many age-group tournaments, including the 2011 Junior World Championship in Italy.
Highlights? "My highlight to date is Toulouse vs Clermont in the Top 14 and the quarterfinal of the Top 14 Toulon's vs Racing-Métro and also the 2012 Under-20 Junior World Cup, which is an exceptional tournament and I have really enjoyed it."
Refereeing philosophy: "Without the laws you cannot have a game but for my part the game will always be above the laws."
Clearly, this cheerful young man enjoys refereeing and all that goes with it. "I enjoy travelling, meeting new people, making friendships and developing as a person holistically."
Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
This year Lourens van der Merwe made his refereeing debut in Super Rugby – a brilliant debut – and he clearly is on the way to great things in the refereeing world. But now he is one of the eight referees from around the world officiating at the Junior World Rugby Championship in Cape Town.
He followed the way of many referees – injuries as a player, schoolmaster, referee. Many schoolmasters get a taste for refereeing by refereeing schools matches. He says: "I got injured when I last played, but because of the love for the game I wanted to stay part of it."
Getting involved in rugby at school was easy as the school was Grey College, South Africa's premier rugby school. He himself was born in Pretoria – on 3 February 1977 – and was educated at Staatspresident CR Swart High School before coming to Bloemfontein. Finished at Free State University he got a post at Grey teaching physical science, where he still is.
He started refereeing while at university and joined the Free State Referees' Society after one of its members had seen him refereeing an Under-19C schools match and took him along to a society meeting. That was in 1999 and his progress has been rapid. He refereed his first match as a society referee in 2000, went to his first national week in 2001 and first got onto a panel in 2002. In 2010 he was on South Africa's top panel, which meant refereeing Currie Cup matches in the premier division and in 2011 the Final of the Division 1. In 2012 he became a Super Rugby referee.
Of course, he was helped along the way – buy his own society which has wise men like Gerrit Coetzer, and by the management and coaches of SA Rugby.
The highlights of his career so far have been his first Super Rugby refereeing and then the Junior World Championship, in particular the semifinal at Newlands between New Zealand and Wales. He says of the JWRC: "It is the best competition I've attended – a great learning curve as a referee and as an individual."
What he loves about refereeing: "To ref is to be a manager – which fits my style. Also the adrenalin before and during the game – it's addictive (in a good sense)." And then there is the opportunity of "getting to know guys from all over the world who also have a passion for refereeing."
Lourens is married to Liena who is expecting their third child. The other two are boys – Llewellyn (5) and WJ (2).
