Referees for Europe
The European Professional Rugby Clubs have made their referee appointments for the postponed matches and also for Rounds 5 & 6.
The rescheduled matches are those postponed at the time of the attacks in Paris when 130 people were murdered on a November Friday.
The appointments for the decisive Rounds 5 & 6 are those scheduled for the restart of the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup
Rounds 5 & 6 are the last pool matches before the knock-outs. They are thus the last chance for clubs to qualify for the knock-outs – two critical rounds.
The rescheduled matches are on the weekend of 8-010 January 2016, the weekend before Round 5.
The most critical of the rescheduled matches are those between Stade Français and Munster, to be refereed by Nigel Owens, and between Toulon and Bath, to be refereed by George Clancy.
The referees for the rescheduled matches are new appointments. While Owens was originally down for the match in Toulon, Wayne Barnes was appointed to the Stade Français match now to be refereed by George Clancy.
Owens will be back in Toulon for the Round 5 match when Toulon play Wasps while Jerome Garcès will referee the round's other crunch match – between Saracens and Ulster.
The critical matches in Round 6 are Exeter Chiefs vs Ospreys, to be refereed by Jérôme Garcès, and Clermont vs Bordeaux-Bègles, to be referees by JP Doyle, the Irishman named for a saintly Pope who referees out of England.
The crucial matches in the Challenge Cup are London Irish vs Grenoble and Sale Sharks vs the Dragons.
Ben Whitehouse, a test referee and the son of Test referee Nigel Whitehouse, will referee his first Champions Cup match. Alex Ruiz of France will make his debut in Round 6. Neither of the matches have a bearing on the knock-out matches to come.
The first of the knock-out matches will be the quarterfinals. Each set of quarterfinals requires eight teams. The eight teams are made up of the five pool winners and the best three runners-up. The best runners-up with be the three teams who came second in their pools with the most match points.
There are 46 matches. The number of appointments by country is:
Ireland: 13 for 8 referees
England: 11 for 8 referees
France: 10 for 8 referees
Wales: 8 for 4 referees
Italy: 2 for 1 referee
Romania: 1 for 1 referee
Scotland: 1 for 1 Referee
Referees for Rescheduled Matches
Champions Cup
Friday, 8 January 2016
Pool 2: Bordeaux-Bègles vs Clermont Auvergne at Stade Chaban Delmas
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Saturday, 9 January 2016
Pool 3: Racing-Métro vs Glasgow Warriors at Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, Paris
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Pool 4: Stade Français Paris vs Munster Rugby at Stade Jean Bouin
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Sunday, 10 January 2016
Pool 1: Oyonnax vs Ulster at Stade Charles Mathon
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Pool 5: Toulon vs Bath at Stade Félix Mayol
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Challenge Cup
Saturday, 9 January 2016
Pool 2: Pau vs Castres at Stade du Hameau
Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)
Referees for Rounds 5 & 6
Round 5
Champions Cup
Pool 1
Saracens vs Ulster
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Oyonnax vs Toulouse
Referee: Greg Garner (England)
Pool 2
Ospreys vs Clermont Auvergne
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Bordeaux-Bègles vs Exeter Chiefs
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Pool 3
Racing-Métro vs Scarlets
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Northampton Saints vs Glasgow Warriors
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Pool 4
Munster vs Stade Français
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Leicester Tigers vs Benetton Treviso
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Pool 5
Leinster vs Bath
Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)
Toulon vs Wasps
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Challenge Cup
Pool 1
Enisei-STM vs Newcastle Falcons
Referee: Tual Trainini (France)
Brive vs Connacht
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys (England)
Pool 2
Newport Gwent Dragons vs Castres
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Pau vs Sale Sharks
Referee: Gary Conway (Ireland)
Pool 3
Calvisano vs Montpellier
Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
Harlequins vs Cardiff Blues
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Pool 4
Gloucester vs La Rochelle
Referee: David Wilkinson (Ireland)
Worcester Warriors vs Zebre
Referee: Thomas Charabas (France)
Pool 5
Edinburgh vs Agen
Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)
London Irish vs Grenoble
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Round 6
Champions Cup
Pool 1
Ulster Rugby vs Oyonnax
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Toulouse vs Saracens
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Pool 2
Exeter Chiefs vs Ospreys
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Clermont Auvergne vs Bordeaux-Bègles
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Pool 3
Glasgow Warriors vs Racing-Métro
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Scarlets vs Northampton Saints
Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)
Pool 4
Benetton Treviso vs Munster Rugby
Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Stade Français vs Leicester Tigers
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Pool 5
Bath vs Toulon
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Wasps vs Leinster
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Challenge Cup
Pool 1
Connacht vs Enisei-STM
Referee: Tom Foley (England)
Newcastle Falcons vs Brive
Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Pool 2
Sale Sharks vs Newport Gwent Dragons
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Castres vs Pau
Referee: Ian Tempest (England)
Pool 3
Cardiff Blues vs Calvisano
Referee: Thomas Charabas (France)
Montpellier vs Harlequins
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Pool 4
La Rochelle vs Worcester Warriors
Referee: Vlad Iordachescu (Romania)
Zebre vs Gloucester
Referee: Gary Conway (Ireland)
Pool 5
Agen vs London Irish
Referee: Lloyd Linton (Scotland)
Grenoble vs Edinburgh
Referee: Greg Garner (England)
Photo: George Clancey
