Dexter wrote:I thought the union of the away team was supposed to supply the ref, when there isn't a neutral one?
Lot of calls on refs at the moment, the 6 Nations, Super Rugby, Pro12, GP, T14, ENC and ARC were all active at the weekend (with Brazil beating US Eagles!) - competitions will take refs where they can find them.
but again Nigel Owens is a TJ
to be conspiratorial as well as tangenital has he angered the IRB or some referees manger at 6n or higher level?
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to be conspiratorial as well as tangenital has he angered the IRB or some referees manger at 6n or higher level?
Nah, WR stated before the tournament that they and Nigel had agreed to reduce his refereeing involvement in order to develop other referees. Joel Jutge steps down as Refs Boss at the end of the season - is Nigel perhaps earmarked as his replacement and they're trying to reduce their reliance on him for marquee matches? Not sure, personally I think he'll actually succeed Jutges successor
Aside from Jackson who is being fast tracked anyway, Doyle is the only ref in the list that is not vastly experienced already, but maybe theyre just trying to spread it around in general
Retired from babbling. Can be found on twittter @okeeffesimon