Referees for Six Nations
The International Rugby Board has made known the referees appointed to the Six Nations in February and March 2011. Ten referees have been appointed to the 15 matches.
The number 10 is significant as it may well be that 10 referees are required to cover the 48 matches of the World Cup, though in 2007 there were 11 referees.
In 2007 the referees who officiated were Wayne Barnes, Stuart Dickinson, Marius Jonker, Joël Jutge, Jonathan Kaplan, Paul Honiss, Alan Lewis, Nigel Owens Tony Spreadbury, Steve Walsh, and Chris White, of whom Honiss, Jutge, Spreadbury and White are no longer referee international matches.
Of the other seven, Dickinson, Jonker and Lewis have not been appointed to Six Nations matches.
It may well be that some referees are again being tested with the World Cup in mind. This could explain the absence of Jonker, Mark Lawrence, Chris Pollock, Stuart Dickinson, who has just refereed his 46th Test, and Christophe Berdos and the surprise inclusion of Dave Pearson. Some of them refereed particularly well in the November internationals. They could well be looked at more carefully in more local competitions – Berdos in the Heineken Cup and the other three in Super 15 before the final choice for the World Cup in April.
One presumes that the appointment of referees is based on a merit system and not influenced by some sort of quota system which would appoint referees to give a country representation or to exclude referees because a country’s representation is too large., Merit selection is obviously the case as there are no referees from Scotland, Italy or Argentina, for example, in these appointments.
Of the 10 referees appointed to Six Nations matches there are two each from England, Ireland and South Africa and one each from Australia, France, New Zealand and Wales but none from Scotland or Italy or any other country.
David Pickering, the IRB match official selection committee chairman and IRB council member said: “We are beginning the countdown towards Rugby World Cup 2011 and a streamlined panel of 10 top referees who will officiate at the tournament.
“However, there are still 10 months to go until the showcase tournament kicks off and there is plenty of time for places to be secured. We have worked hard on consistency across the board and referees and coaches have universally bought into the strict application of five key areas of Law.”
All of the back-up officials – assistant referees and television match officials, are either from the Six nations countries or are referees who will be in Europe at the time.
For the World Cup one would expect specialist assistant referees, such as Vinny Munro of New Zealand and Kobus Wessels of South Africa, and specialist TMOs, such as Shaun Veldsman, to be appointed.
It cannot be an easy task to evaluate referees and to appoint them but the IRB deserves good wishes with the task in the hope that the best 1-0 or 11 referees will go to New Zealand for the world’s tip rugby tournament.
2011 Six Nations appointments:
4 February 2011
Wales vs England at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
5 February 2011
Italy vs Ireland at Stadio Flaminio, Rome
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces (France), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: Geoff Warren (England)
France vs Scotland at Stade de France, Paris
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Andrew Small (England), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
12 February 2011
England vs Italy at Twickenham, London
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television match official: Tony Redmond (Ireland)
Scotland vs Wales at Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)
13 February 2011
Ireland vs France at Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: Geoff Warren (England)
26 February 2011
Italy vs Wales at Stadio Flaminio, Rome
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Dave Pearson (England), John Lacey (Ireland)
Television match official: Iain Ramage (Scotland)
England vs France at Twickenham, London
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
27 February 2011
Scotland vs Ireland at Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Andrew Small (England), Pascal Gauzere (France)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)
12 March 2011
Italy vs France at Stadio Flaminio, Rome
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Wales vs Ireland at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television match official: Geoff Warren (England)
13 March 2011
England vs Scotland at Twickenham, London
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces (France), Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television match official: Tony Redmond (Ireland)
19 March 2011
Scotland vs Italy at Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Alan Lewis (Ireland), John Lacey (Ireland)
Television match official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Ireland vs England at Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
France vs Wales at Stade de France, Paris
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)
