Referees
SANZAR has released the names of the match officials for Round 4 of Super Rugby 2014. Craig Joubert starts the action this weekend in Wellington with the Hurricanes vs Brumbies match.
This weekend has 6 matches, with 2 on Friday and 4 on Saturday.
The Chiefs, Highlanders and Waratahs have bye weekends.
The RFU have fined Leicester amateurs Aylestone St James £1,575 for “forcibly removing the underwear” of three anonymous north east-based officials.
The incident took place at Aylestone’s Covert Lane clubhouse after a Midlands Three East (North) match with Grimsby.
SANZAR has released the names of the officials for Round 3 of Super Rugby 2014. Mike Fraser starts the action this weekend in Auckland with the Blues vs Crusaders match.
This weekend sees 7 matches with 3 on Friday and 4 on Saturday.
The Sharks have the bye weekend.
Jason Jaftha, one of SANZAR’s panel of Super Rugby referees, has suffered what seems to be a serious knee injury.
Governing body Sanzar has confirmed that Television Match Official Deon van Blommenstein made a critical error in awarding Cobus Reinach his try during the Cell C Sharks’ 31 / 16 win over the Vodacom Bulls in their Vodacom Super Rugby match in Durban on the weekend.
Sanzar referees boss Lyndon Bray confirmed the try – which led to repeated replays – should not have been awarded as the ball was knocked-on by Sharks lock Anton Bresler.
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers on Wednesday became only the sixth player to be named South African Rugby Player of the Year more than once, while Eben Etzebeth was named the Young Player of the Year for 2013 for the second successive season at a glittering ceremony at the Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City in Johannesburg.
De Villiers led the Springboks to 10 wins in 12 Tests in 2013 and scored five tries in the process following an outstanding Vodacom Super Rugby campaign for the DHL Stormers. His first-class record now stands at 254 matches with 91 tries scored.
Italy prop Michele Rizzo and France front row forward Rabah Slimani have both been banned for two weeks for foul play.
The duo were found guilty of head-butting each other during France’s 30-10 victory over Italy on Sunday at a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday.
Toulon coach Bernard Laporte was on Wednesday banned for 13 weeks for a vicious verbal tirade against a referee.
The suspension, which sees the former France coach sidelined until 13 May, was meted out by the national rugby league’s (LNR) disciplinary commission.
The match officials for the 1st and 2nd Rounds of the 2014 Super Rugby season have been released.
South African teams alone will contest the opening round and the Stormers have a bye in the first week.
Australian and New Zealand teams will start their Super Rugby seasons in Round 2.
South African referees boss André Watson says two referees on the field is the way forward for world rugby.
International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman Bernard Lapasset has spoken out against the “increase” in public criticism of referees ahead of the start of this season’s Six Nations.
Rugby Union, in common with many sports, has long set great store by respect for match officials.
Western Province and Stormers forward Michael Rhodes was cleared of further sanctions on Thursday, after being cited for a dangerous tackle in the Currie Cup Final against the Sharks in Cape Town last season.
Western Province and Stormers forward Michael Rhodes will appear before a South African Rugby Union (SARU) judicial committee on Thursday for a dangerous tackle in last year’s Currie Cup final against The Sharks at Newlands.
A lot of rugby will be played this weekend, with the much awaited friendly between Saracens and the Cell C Sharks, the HSBC Sevens World Series tournament in Las Vegas and the LV Cup, amongst others, happening.
The Referees & Match Officials have been named.
Edinburgh loose forward Cornell du Preez and Connacht duo Kieran Marmion and Nathan White have been cited after the weekend’s final round of the European Cup pool stages.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) is considering stricter protocols to prevent players with possible concussion from returning to the field during matches.
According to a current protocol being tested in some tournaments, a player can return to the playing field if he passes a cognitive test within five minutes. It is called the Pitch Side Concussion Assessment (PSCA) trial – or ‘five-minute test’.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) is set to ditch the ‘YES NINE’ scrum call in favour of a non-verbal, pre-agreed instruction.
The change will take place with immediate effect, and will be introduced at all levels of the game.
Referees will no longer give a verbal instruction of ‘YES NINE’, and instead will issue a non-verbal instruction to the scrumhalf when he considers the scrum to be square and stable.
The non-verbal instruction must be agreed by the referee and both scrumhalves prior to the start of the game and could be in the form of a tap on the back while the referee is on the side of the put-in, or an agreed signal (nod of the head or hand signal) by the referee while he is on the other side of the scrum.
As summer settles warmly down south and cricket provides most interest, wet and wind do their best to disrupt the North as rugby seeks to fight the wild weather off so that the European competitions can be played this week and next.
These are the last two pool rounds in the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup before the knock-out rounds. There is a lot at stake for some clubs.
Iconic French rugby forward Sebastien Chabal was handed a three-week suspension on Friday for a punch that knocked out Agen’s Marc Giroud, his club Lyon revealed.
The 36-year-old former France international will miss his club’s second division matches against Carcassonne, Narbonne and Albi before being available again on January 27.
As we bid farewell to 2013 and move into 2014, the European rugby circuit is still active, albeit less active than normal.
We take a brief look at the appointment of referees and match officials till 5 January 2014.
Whilst South African and Southern Hemisphere referees are sitting with their feet up or bare feet in the sand at the coast this Festive Season, their Northern Hemisphere counterparts are still at work.
So where do you really want to live, in leisurely summer time in the Southern Hemisphere or in the cold gloom and doom of icy winter in the Northern Hemisphere?
Here are the referees doing duty till 29 December 2013.
The year was full of spectacular moments and performances as well as disappointing lows and infamous incidents; we name and shame the best and worst in our 2013 Awards.
New Zealand and Wales ruled their respective hemispheres for the second successive year, the All Blacks enjoying a flawless 2013 campaign.
Jonathan Kaplan is not stopping refereeing, something he has done for 30 seasons and at which he has had magnificent achievements but he will no longer be refereeing Test or provincial matches. We are publishing tributes.
South Africans Craig Joubert and Jaco Peyper have been appointed by the International Rugby Board (IRB) to referee in next year’s Six Nations.
The Varsity Cup matches in 2014 will be played with two referees on the field. It’s not a new idea but the use of it is moving up a notch with the Varsity Cup.
The South African Rugby Union has confirmed the panels for the 2014 season, with a number of changes resulting from a selection and grading meeting held last week. Retirements and the reduction of some panels has also had an impact on the final lists.
Round Eight of the Pro12 kicks off on Friday night with both Scottish teams in action – early season leaders Glasgow Warriors welcoming Newport Gwent Dragons to Scotstoun, whilst Edinburgh travel to Belfast to face Ulster.
England’s Rugby Football Union has suspended Premiership referee David Rose who appeared in court on Monday to answer a benefit fraud charge.
Tevita Kuridrani, Australian outside centre was banned for 5 weeks for his tip-tackle on Peter O’Mahony on the weekend in the match between Ireland and the Wallabies.
Sona Taumalolo of Tonga was banned for 4 weeks and Yoann Maestri’s Red Card was deemed sufficient punishment for their involvement in striking each other in the match between France and Tonga on the weekend, which effectively means Yoann Maestri is free to resume play and to face the Springboks on the weekend.
England’s Wayne Barnes will referee the Boks’ final end of year Test against France in Paris on Saturday.
Barnes will be the Boks’ third northern hemisphere referee in as many matches on their tour after Ireland’s Alain Rolland took control of their 24-15 win over Wales in Cardiff, while France’s Jérôme Garcès was the man in the middle in their 28-0 victory over Scotland in Edinburgh last Sunday.
Tongan prop Sona Taumalolo, French lock Yoann Maestri and Australian centre Tevita Kuridrani will all face hearings on Tuesday after receiving red cards on the weekend.
Samoa centre George Pisi is set to miss the remainder of his country’s matches in November after he was handed a six week ban for a tip tackle on Ireland wing Tommy Bowe during last Saturday’s 40-9 hammering by the Irish at Lansdowne Road.
France’s Jérôme Garcès will referee the Scotland v Springboks Test at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on Sunday.
Kick-off is at 17:00.
Two players have been cited for alleged foul play, following the weekend’s round of Test matches.
Georgina Robinson of the Sydney Morning Herald, a pleasant lady who sat next to me at Loftus Versfeld during Super Rugby… or was it a Test between the Springboks and Wallabies, wrote an article about Ewen McKenzie, Wallabies coach, complaining bitterly about the unfair treatment the Wallabies scrum gets, due to the perceptions of the quality or lack of quality of Wallaby scums of recent years.
Now understand me clear here, I do not moan over Georgina article, after all she has a duty to report the news when it presents itself – and generally she is a fair lass as far as rugby matters go, in my opinion one of the better rugby scribes from Down Under.
The beef that I have is the smoke and mirrors, the side-show that Ewen McKenzie is trying to conjure up and the smoke he is trying to blow up the IRB and our combined arses, to make up for absolutely woeful Wallaby scrummaging!
We’re going to look at Georgina’s Article in the Sydney Morning Herald first… thereafter we will look at a video clip analising all 17 scrums in the recent Test between England and the Wallabies (a must watch clip) and finally, each will come to his or her own conclusion, mine being to laugh at McKenzie’s antics in disgust and disbelief!