Refs for IRB Junior World Trophy
The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced the appointment of the match officials for the inaugural Junior World Trophy. A panel of seven referees and a specialist touch judge has been selected for the tournament, which is being held in Santiago, Chile, from April 15 to 27.
Seven unions are represented within the panel, which brings together some of the finest up and coming match officials from around the world.
Aside from providing a high intensity testing ground, the IRB Junior World Trophy also plays a significant role in the ongoing development of international referees.
“The IRB Junior World Trophy provides an opportunity for the future stars of world rugby to prove themselves in highly competitive tournament environment, and the same can be said of the match officials,” explained IRB Referee Manager Paddy O’Brien.
“The Tournament, coupled with the IRB Junior World Championship, plays a key developmental role for the officials selected in terms of preparation for the Test arena.
“Those selected will be looking to follow in the footsteps of a number of top referees such as Wayne Barnes, Peter Fitzgibbon, Andrew McPherson and Federico Cuesta who have advanced to referee Test matches on the back of their performances at IRB Age Grade Tournaments,” added O’Brien.
Individual match appointments for the pool stages of the tournament will be made when the match officials arrive in Santiago in April. Performances will then be assessed before appointments for the final round are made.
IRB Junior World Trophy match official Panel:
Referee Panel:
Salvador Encinas (Chile)
Heykel Bahroun (Tunisia)
Ucha Narmianidze (Georgia)
Gustavo Gerbasi (Uruguay)
Horatiu Bargaunas (Romania)
Javier Mancuso (Argentina)
Marcin Zeszutek (Poland)
Specialist touch judge: Jaime Vial (Chile)
Tournament Referee Manager: Bernd Gabbei (Germany)
