Match officials for the upcoming Six Nations tournament, have been announced by the IRB (International Rugby Board) last night.
The Six Nations Tournament is considered as the second biggest tournament in the Rugby Union, after the World Cup. This season’s tournament will be played between February 4th and March 19th in the coming
year.
The International Rugby Board’s Match Official Selection Committee had a meeting in Dublin early this week and took a comprehensive review of the performances of all the referees, assistant referees and television match official,
in the recently ended Autumn internationals and on the basis of those reviews, last night announced the officials for the Six Nations tournament.
This appointment of referees will give a chance to the selected referees to strengthen their position for the rugby 2011World Cup in New Zealand. Their performance in the Six Nations will confirm their presence in the World Cup,
as referees.
Irish international referee Alain Rolland, who was also referee in the rugby World Cup 2007 final, got the honor to supervise the first match of the Six Nations and he will be the referee in the opening match between Wales and
England on the 4th of February at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
New Zealand’s Steve Walsh, who has not supervised any match of the Six Nations since 2008, also made a comeback and he will supervise the match between England and France on the 26th of February at Twickenham stadium,
London.
The total number of 10 referees will supervise the 15 matches of this coming Six Nations.
The Chairman of International Rugby Board’s match official selection committee David Pickering, who is also IRB Council Member, spoke to the media after the announcement and said, the performance of referees in the Six Nations
will help the committee to select the referees for the showcase tournament World Cup and referees can cement their position in the World Cup by performing good in Six Nations.
"We have worked hard on consistency across the board and referees and coaches have universally bought into the strict application of five key areas of Law. Collectively we are focused on further promoting consistency across all
areas of officiating to ensure that those selected for Rugby World Cup 2011 are the best and that they will be in peak physical and performance condition for what promises to be a special tournament.”
Six Nations Match Officials
Week 1
04 Feb 19:45 Wales v England Millennium Stadium, Cardiff -A.Rolland
05 Feb 14:30 Italy v Ireland Stadio Flaminio, Rome -R.Poite J.Garces
05 Feb 17:00 France v Scotland Stade de France, Paris -W.Barnes
Week 2
12 Feb 14:30 England v Italy Twickenham, London -C.Joubert
12 Feb 17:00 Scotland v Wales Murrayfield, Edinburgh -G.Clancy
13 Feb 15:00 Ireland v France Aviva Stadium, Dublin -D.Pearson
Week 3
26 Feb 14:30 Italy v Wales Stadio Flaminio, Rome -W.Barnes
26 Feb 17:00 England v France Twickenham, London -S.Walsh
27 Feb 15:00 Scotland v Ireland Murrayfield, Edinburgh -N.Owens
Week 4
12 Mar 14:30 Italy v France Stadio Flaminio, Rome -B.Lawrence
12 Mar 17:00 Wales v Ireland Millennium Stadium, Cardiff -J.Kaplan
13 Mar 15:00 England v Scotland Twickenham, London -R.Poite
Week 5
19 Mar 14:30 Scotland v Italy Murrayfield, Edinburgh -A.Rolland
19 Mar 17:00 Ireland v England Aviva Stadium, Dublin -B.Lawrence
19 Mar 19:45 France v Wales Stade de France, Paris -C.Joubert
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