RWC 2015: Referee Announcement

Lets face it, the ref can be a touchy subject in a game of rugby. Even when its my own coach (who thinks he’s Jonny Wilkinson) in an inter-squad scrimmage, I’m likely to give him an earful when he gets a call wrong (which he does a lot). Ultimately the refs decisions can decide the course of a match, and in a fiery, competitive sport like rugby, on a stage like the world cup, the pressure on the man in the middle is immense.

 

Refs: Jerome Garces, Pascal Gauzere, Romain Poite, George Clancy, John Lacey, Glen Jackson, Chris Pollock, Wayne Barnes, JP Doyle, Craig Joubert, Jaco Peyper, Nigel Owens.

Unless Wales are in the final, we can expect that Owens, the most experienced international ref at the tournament to take the final, and I don’t think there are many of us out there that would complain about that. We all love Owens for his lovely ability to pick on players, with lines like “I am straighter than that throw”, but we also love his ability to keep the game moving and create an environment for high pace, exciting rugby.

The inclusion of the likes of JP Doyle and Glen Jackson is interesting given that the pair do not have much experience on the international level, Doyle has reffed just 1 match, Wales vs Italy in this years 6 Nations. Thats not to say that they are not high quality officials, but it seems that the primary reason for their inclusion is to help them gain experience by reffing some of the low level pool matches.

 

There are only 5 referees that are returning from the 2011 World Cup, and to the chagrin of many an Ireland fan, and the horror of Schalk Brits, Wayne Barnes is one of them.

Bismarck Du Plessis will be hoping he will not have to play New Zealand, because, well we all know what happened when Romain Poite, who is also back, saw him commit the mortal sin of tackling Dan Carter.

Also back is George Clancy, however, it would seem that many of the refs in the forums do not feel that Clancy is up to the task, which may become a source of whining if one team bows out of the tournament under his watch.

 

There are a few nations who will feel hard done by their lack of representation. Rather unsurprisingly, there are no refs from Scotland, but what is rather surprising is that there are no refs from Australia. Steve Walsh probably would have gotten the job, however he has had to retire due to off the field obligations (his hair probably). Walsh was a very good, albeit controversial, official, and the the world of rugby will miss the way he stared at himself in the big screen.

 

All in all, World Rugby have put together a very competent and informed panel of officials, and if fault is to be found in this year’s tournament, I doubt the officiating crew is where it will manifest itself (unless of course, my team doesn’t win).

 

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