Rugby World Cup Referees named

[coonor]

My top 3 refs are Rolland, Barnes and Joubert and I also like Owens, Pearson and Clancy.

Poite and Walsh should not be there. I am going to miss Lewis as he provides a good bit of comedy with some of his funny comments.

 

[Shaggy]

Alan Lewis is a far better referee than Bryce Lawrence and Craig Joubert

any chance of one of the referees making the effort to speak French,Italian or Spanish this WC? *

Alain Rolland is the only one that does as far as I know, which is a bit pathetic in my opinion

*discounting Poite and Damasco as they won't ref any France or Italy games

Aren't the various hand signals mean't to negate the need to speak a particular language - I suspect only the South African Refs can speak Afrikaans as well,is that pathetic as well ... anyway, i'd be more concerned with how they interpret the laws,than how many languages they are fluent in.

Hands up, who's not suprised at the total lack of Scottish officials?

Steve Walsh is doing the rounds ... i'm sure he'll be Scottish sooner or later

Poite at World Cup should be great craic. Has any of Southern Hemisphere met him yet ha ha

He Refereed the All Blacks V England last year ... doesn't he give home team scrum decisions ... if so,we'll be okay

 

[smartcooky]

Just out of curiousity, if he doesn't pick the refs or have an input on the rules of the game, what the hell does POB do?

He's the Referee Manager. His role is much the same as any sports team's manager, and includes co-ordination of referee training and education, transport and accommodation, assisting referees with any personal issues relevant to their job, liaison with the IRB Executive and the Rugby Committee on matters pertaining to the Laws of the Game and refereeing in general.

He is also the IRB's media liaison for referees, and it is this part of his job that puts him in the public eye, and therefore, makes him an easy target for ignorant, know-nothing fans and media alike (e.g. Peter Bills, Stephen Jones, Eddie Butler and Brendan Gallagher)

FYI, the IRB Match Officials Selection Panel is as follows

[textarea]David Pickering (Wales, Chairman)
Tappe Henning (South Africa)
Kevin Bowring (England)
Bob Francis (New Zealand)
Stephen Hilditch (Ireland)
Michel Lamoulie (France).
Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand) who is also the Referee Manager.[/textarea]

Certain referees don't make the cut for RWC, 6N and 3N, and the idiots all jump on the "Paddy-bashing" bandwagon. No-one ever mentions the other six members of the selection panel.

 

[dullonien]

Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand)

Pah, bugger off. I don't care what accent he's got, or where he was born, or where he lives; with a name like that he's Irish. In my mind, he wears a green hat, greets people with a chirpy "top o' the mornin' to ya'", and drinks guiness like there's no tomorrow.

 

[DorceOutSide]

alain rolland oh yeah that ****** from 2007 world cup why is he on it !

 

[TNT88]

The list wasn't a huge surprise, but i was hoping Mark Lawrence would make it.

There are a few decisions that might not seem favorable, but all in all that is a strong list.

 

[smartcooky]

Pah, bugger off. I don't care what accent he's got, or where he was born, or where he lives; with a name like that he's Irish. In my mind, he wears a green hat, greets people with a chirpy "top o' the mornin' to ya'", and drinks guiness like there's no tomorrow.

I can personally assure you that POB does in fact enjoy sampling "Vitamin G"

 

[Seaton]

What are you talking about? Joubert is there, Jonker is not.

Joubert, Craig (SARU)

O'Brien doesn't select the referees for RWC; he doesn't even select them for the iRB Test Panel, nor is he even the head of the Selectors Panel.

Poor old POB cops a lot of flack for decisions that were not of his making, and aren't even in his purview.

Fairs do, I got it wrong

I also thought Paddy was Chieftain of All Referees, wrong as well

I blame Paddy for not making it clear through the media what his role is, just like our own Willie Miller

 

[smartcooky]

Fairs do, I got it wrong

I also thought Paddy was Chieftain of All Referees, wrong as well

I blame Paddy for not making it clear through the media what his role is, just like our own Willie Miller

Well I guess you found something to blame him for

 

[Seaton]

Thought I found this interesting.

http://www.scrrs.net/download/irbrulings/110601 PO Key Areas Memo.pdf

Apparently its a memo for refs for the world cup

The one that has me jumping with joy is the bit about Props must bind on the body, not arms, and that only persistent putting of the hand on the ground is to be penalised, not once off