SANZAR wishes to advise two referee appointment changes for the forthcoming round of Super Rugby.

Nick Briant will officiate Crusaders v Hurricanes on Friday night while Steve Walsh will oversee the Blues v Highlanders clash in Auckland on Saturday night.

SANZAR Game Manager Lyndon Bray said, “We have always strived to have strong accountability within our team and importantly, accountability for the competition. As such, we have always sought to conduct ourselves in a fair, transparent and open manner.

“One of our core strategic objectives is to grow the depth of the team that is able to referee ‘any game, any time.’ In line with this, we have reduced the size of the team heading into the next phase of the competition and in doing so, have recognised who has performed to expectation and who has not.

“The aim is to give this smaller pool of referees more game time so when it comes to the Finals Series, there’s a great deal of pressure around who will earn those highly sought after appointments and from a Super Rugby perspective, that the competition is getting a consistent high standard of refereeing.”

ROUND 7 (revised appointments)

Crusaders v Hurricanes – Nick Briant
Rebels v Brumbies – Jaco Peyper
Blues v Highlanders – Steve Walsh
Reds v Stormers – Chris Pollock
Bulls v Chiefs – Craig Joubert
Sharks v Waratahs – Mike Fraser

ROUND 8 (no change)

Highlanders v Rebels – Chris Pollock
Brumbies v Blues – Rohan Hoffmann
Hurricanes v Bulls – Steve Walsh
Reds v Force – Garratt Williamson
Cheetahs v Chiefs – Craig Joubert
Lions v Crusaders – Marius van der Westhuizen
Stormers v Waratahs – Glen Jackson

Stuart Berry, Angus Gardner, Andrew Lees and Matt O’Brien are not scheduled for primary refereeing appointments in the coming fortnight (as per the communication issued on March 11), but will be considered for Rounds 9-10, which will be released in due course.