NIGEL OWENS WILL take the whistle for Ireland’s biggest pool game at the Rugby World Cup.
World Rugby have today announced the full list of refereeing appointments for the pool stages of the tournament, and Irish fans will likely be pleased to see Welshman Owens taking control of things when they face France in their final pool game in Cardiff on October 11.
Ireland’s opening World Cup game against Canada in Cardiff on September 19 will be refereed by Glan Jackson of New Zealand, while the meeting with Romania in Wembley will be controlled by South African Craig Joubert.
They then meet Italy in the Olympic Stadium on October 4, with Jerome Garces of France due to be the man in the middle, before signing off the pool against the French.
We also know what games will be controlled by Irish refs George Clancy and John Lacey.
Clancy will take charge of three games in the pool stages, the Pool B meeting of Samoa and USA on September 20, Italy v Canada in Ireland’s Pool D on September 26, and he’ll also be in the centre for the Pool C clash between Namibia and Georgia.
Lacey is taking charge of two pool games, but seems to have landed himself with some exciting pairs, the Pool A meeting of Wales and Fiji on October 1, before getting to referee the champions New Zealand against Tonga on October 8.
To see the full list of World Cup pool appointments, click here.
No Wayne Barnes thankfully !!!
Dont speak so soon. Have the quarter final refs been announced yet? I have a feeling we will win our group and get Barnes as ref for our quarter final which would probably be against Argentina. Winner would probably play England. This is the game I do not want Barnes any where near.
Don’t want Barnes on any game!!! Lol
He’s assistant ref 1 for the French match so he’ll go out of his way to interfere in some way…sans doute..!!!
I’m also glad we’ve avoided Barnes – far too fussy a ref, makes himself central to the match, usually to the detriment of the spectacle. Having said all of that, he’s not the worst.
The worst referee – by some distance – in world rugby right now is Romain Poite. That guy is just bonkers – no consistency at all, and clueless at scrum time. There is no pattern to his refereeing except that it is always unpredictable. We have managed to avoid him for all of our group games (he is an assistant to Joubert in the Romania game, but that shouldn’t prove too bothersome).
No Wayne Barnes!!!! Happy bloody days!!!!! Go wan the Owens!!!! Delighted with Owens in the French game!!!! :)
Not bad at all
barnes wouldn’t be allowed ref an England, and he shouldn’t be allowed ref an irish game
Fantastic! Best ref in the world. Had a dreadful feeling opening the article I’d be reading the name we’ve all come to dread…
Decent refs to be fair. All set up nicely…
What a shocker. Shows how corrupt rugby is these days. Sad stuff.
Huh??
Quite predictable, that the Irish get their favourite referee (i.e. – the only one that doesn’t like to penalise Irish sides). The Irish run rugby in the Northern Hemisphere.
In Owens’ last 2 6N matchs between France and Ireland, he didn’t penalise the Irish in 153 minutes (yes, 153, that’s over 2 and a half hours.)
Ya gotta love our Nige..!! :)
The only dodgy ref is Barnes I’m afraid!!!
Don’t forget… Nigel f*cked us over against the all blacks
Interesting, and odd, to note that there is not one Australian referee taking charge of any of the 40 group matches. Their two guys are assistants and TMO only. By contrast, the two Irish fellas have 6 games between them.
FFR 11 (including 4 for Poite!)
IRFU 6
NZR 6
RFU 6
SARU 8
WRU 3
No referees from Argentina, Australia, Italy or Scotland
Best ref for our biggest game and no Barnes, I’m very happy!