Referees
New Zealand’s referees will be stepping out in pink in this year’s Super Rugby tournament thanks to a three-year sponsorship deal with Pink® Batts®.
This year, the International Rugby Board has introduced 11 law trials that will be implemented from the start of the 2013 season.
Referees will now be able to ask Television Match Official (TMO) to review up to two phases prior to the ball being grounded as part of a new worldwide TMO Protocol trial announced by the International Rugby Board (IRB).
The IRB and its Member Unions have underscored their ongoing commitment to consistent and accurate match officiating by approving a global trial to extend the powers of the television match official (TMO).
SANZAR announced their 18 referees for the 2013 Super Rugby season, the group of referees includes 5 new as well as the Argentinean Francisco Pastrana (who controlled his first Super Rugby match in 2012).
SANZAR CEO Greg Peters has intimated that it’s unlikely that Super Rugby will adopt television match official (TMO) rule changes next year.
Empowering the TMO to review possible infringements during try-scoring movements and incidents of foul play have been trialled in the Currie Cup and English Premiership competitions this year.
Leading South African referee Marius Jonker has announced his retirement from international match officiating, although he will continue to referee in South Africa’s domestic competitions.
Highly-rated South African referee Jason Jaftha will make his Test debut later this month, the South African Rugby Union announced on Monday.
Gloucester looseforward Andy Hazell was suspended for 14 weeks as sanction following a Disciplinary Hearing in Dublin after being Red Carded and Cited in the Amlin Challenge Cup Pool 1, Round 1 match against Mont-de-Marsan at Stade Guy Boniface on Thursday 11 October.
In one of the more brutal and serious incidents in recent years, Andy Hazell was given a Red Card for an incident in the 55th minute of the match for striking (or rather for bating up) Mont-de-Marsan replacement, Sebastien Ormaechea.
It may be a Neanderthal thought, but perhaps the answer is to bring back good old-fashioned rucking. The question, of course, is what to do about players who are persistently offside.
Jaco Peyper will referee the Currie Cup final between the Sharks and Western Province in Durban on Saturday afternoon.
Bryce Lawrence has pulled the plug on his career after his 200th first-class match in charge.
It is quite amazing that the IRB still permits referees to conduct tutorials during international rugby matches. The refs jabber on incessantly, telling players to release, roll away, get onside, wash the dishes, pick up the kids from school. But such a stream of communication creates a clear inequity that the IRB seems willfully oblivious to.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) have said that Irish referee Alain Rolland got it wrong when he refused to allow Australia to make a replacement and forced them to play the last 14 minutes with 14 men.
SANZAR head of referees Lyndon Bray confirmed on Wednesday that New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence’s Test career is over, according to EWN Sport.
SANZAR have announced the referee appointments for the 2012 Super Rugby Semi-Finals with Craig Joubert and Steve Walsh taking charge of this weekend’s matches.
The New Zealand Conference winning Chiefs will host the Crusaders in Hamilton this Friday with Craig Joubert in the middle, while Steve Walsh will officiate the top-of-the-table Stormers and South African Conference champions versus the Sharks match the following evening in Cape Town.
SANZAR have released the match officials for Week 18, the last open round for all participating teams in the 2012 Super Rugby tournament, with Jonathan Kaplan starting proceedings this weekend.
This weekend has 7 matches, 1 on Friday and 6 on Saturday.
This weekend the Highlanders have the bye, thus having already completed their season.
The International Rugby Board have announced a list of eight referees and match officials for the forthcoming Rugby Championship which replaces the TriNations.
SANZAR have announced the match officials for Week 17 of Super Rugby 2012, herewith the final appointments after some amendments were made for this weekend.
Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder was not happy with the performance of referee Bryce Lawrence in his team’s loss to the Hurricanes last week.
Wales have questioned the legitimacy of the Wallabies breakdown tactics and want a meeting with the referee before this weekend’s third Test in Sydney, assistant coach Shaun Edwards said on Monday.
SANZAR has named the match officials for Week 15 of Super Rugby 2012, which starts on Friday with 2 matches and another 4 matches on Saturday.
SANZAR have named the match officials for Week 14 of Super Rugby 2012.
Mark Lawrence starts the weekend action on Friday in the game between the Chiefs and Vodacom Bulls in Hamilton, with six matches to follow on Saturday.
This weekend the Crusaders have the bye.
SANZAR have released the match officials for Week 13 of Super Rugby 2012, with Mark Lawrence starting the first game on Friday and Marius Jonker finishing the weekend off in Perth on Sunday.
This weekend has 7 matches, 1 on Friday, 5 on Saturday and the last 1 on Sunday, meaning only one team has a bye-weekend, namely the Chiefs.
During the Stormers and Cheetahs clash at Newlands a fight of sorts broke out in the second half. Just prior to this happening, Assistant referee Jonathan Kaplan had his flag out. Steve Walsh was about to walk over to him when the whole fight broke out.
I have no idea what SANZAR thought they were doing when they appointed Bryce Lawrence to the match between the Reds and the Crusaders at the weekend. Maybe they had taken a blow too many to the head. But the officiating of this game was an accident waiting to happen.
The match is 80-minutes long but the ball is not in play all of those 80 minutes. There are stoppages, and in fact the ball is rarely in play for even half the time.
Former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has launched his fiercest attack yet on New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence, who officiated South Africa’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss to Australia last year.
The match officials for Week 8 of Super Rugby 2012 was released by SANZAR.
There are only 6 matched scheduled for this week, with the first two matches on Friday 13 April and 4 matches on Saturday 14 April 2012.
Steve Walsh kicks off with the match between the battling Blues and embattled Sharks at 09:35 SA Time Friday morning, whilst 3 teams have a bye weekend, namely the Highlanders, Hurricanes and the Reds.
The International Rugby Board has had a fundamental shake-up of its refereeing structure. Most significantly its manager of referees, Paddy O’Brien, is to move from his present post to run Sevens referees, a job the IRB says is significant with Olympic participation in the offing.
That is still not the end of it. The selection committee have made changes to the IRB’s top panel. Wayne Barnes, Dave Pearson and Bryce Lawrence have been dropped from the IRB’s top panel of referees, while Jaco Peyper of South Africa has been brought onto the panel for the first time.
That is not the end of it. The IRB has also changed the selection process, something O’Brien had put in place, with a four-man selection committee meeting four times a year. The four are Lyndon Bray and Tappe Henning (both SANZAR) and Donal Courtney and Clayton Thomas (both Six Nations and European Rugby Cup). Bray is SANZAR’s game manager which includes looking after referees and Courtney is the ERC’s referees manager. All four are former Test referees who have stayed involved in refereeing administration.
Queensland winger Digby Ioane has been suspended for five weeks (four matches) for a tip tackle on Sharks flanker Marcell Coetzee.
Growing up as a Durban boy my only sporting interest and great passion as a school boy was surfing.
What I didn’t fully realize was that I was born with the body of a prop, and so rugby entered my life as a prop forward at Under 13 level and soon thereafter rugby had relegated surfing to second place, and I played my first game at first division level against the then current Springbok tight head at the tender age of Nineteen!!
15 Years later I played my last game at first division level and happily bear the cauliflower ear and aches and pains of being lucky enough to scrum down in this great game with and against the most interesting men I could ever wish to meet.
Scrumming had become a practical education in the skill of a contest that only a few get to experience, and the enjoyment of watching and appreciating the contest between props based on their know how and technique has kept me close to the game that gave me so much enjoyment.
SO WHO HAS STOLEN THE SCRUM FROM RUGBY IN 2012?
South African referees boss André Watson says Lions coach John Mitchell was wrong to criticise the assistant referees after his side lost to the Sharks in Durban over the weekend.
Lions coach John Mitchell has put on report at least one of the match officials, following his team’s heart-breaking 20-32 loss to the Sharks in a Super Rugby match at the weekend.
Blues winger Rene Ranger will face a Sanzar tribunal for his dive on Bulls winger Bjorn Basson in the last minute of the game at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
South African referees boss Andre Watson has said that the rights of he Television Match Official (TMO) could be expanded after the Bulls were awarded an illegal try.