On the eve of the IRB Junior World Championship 2010 semi
finals, International Rugby Board Referee Manager Paddy O'Brien
has labelled the standard of officiating at the tournament as
"up with the best" and a vital part of a referee's
development.
"This tournament is hugely important for the development
of a referee," explained O'Brien, who has seen Andrew
Small, Keith Brown, Chris Pollock and Jerome Garces graduate from
last year's Junior World Championship to the International
Panel in 2010.
"All of them have had experience, whether it be at
European or Super 14 level, but this is the opportunity for the IRB
selectors to get a good look at them on and off the field and to
give them work ons to go home with.
"History shows that the future IRB panel referees come
from age grade tournaments and clearly some of the referees here
are international referees of the future."
O'Brien was speaking after announcing the match official
appointments for the penultimate round of matches in Argentina,
which will see England, Australia, South Africa and two-time
defending champions New Zealand compete for a place in the final on
Monday.
New Zealand referee Garratt Williamson will take charge of
the first semi finals at the Estadio El Coloso del Parque between
England and Australia, which kicks off at 14:10 local time on
Thursday and will be streamed live on
IRB.com.
John Lacey of Ireland will referee the second semi final -
kicking off at 16:30 local time and again streamed live on the
IRB website - between New Zealand and South Africa with Frenchman
Pascal Gauzere and Argentina's Federico Anselmi acting as
assistant referees for both matches.
Tough call for semi final appointments
"In the selectors' view there are four stand outs at
this tournament and the other four have performed well so in the
end we had to go with those we believe have been the most
consistent [for the semi finals]," admitted O'Brien.
"We do not want the semi final referees to change in any
way their approach to the matches. They have been selected on the
form they have shown to date and apart from modifying areas
identified by the selection panel as weaknesses we ask them to
referee the same as they have in the pool matches."
The Championship also continues in Santa Fe and Paraná with
the first hosting the two play-offs for fifth to eighth place and
the latter the ninth to 12th places with no side wanting to finish
bottom and be relegated to next year's IRB Junior World Rugby
Trophy.
Scotland referee Peter Allan has been handed the whistle for
the opening match at the Estadio CA Colon in Santa Fe between Wales
and hosts Argentina at 14:00 local time. Nathan Pearce of Australia
will then referee the encounter between France and Fiji at the same
venue at 16:15 with Uruguayans Joaquin Montes and Luis Caviglia the
assistant referees.
The Club Atlético Estudiantes in Paraná will host the matches
involving Ireland, Samoa, Scotland and Tonga. Jaco Peyper of South
Africa will referee the match between Ireland and Samoa, two sides
who did not win a match in the Pool stages.
Francisco Pastrana of Argentina then takes charge of the
encounter between Scotland and Tonga at 15:00 local time. The two
sides only met on Sunday, when the Scots ran out 27-3 winners.
Argentineans Martin Rodriguez and Emilio Traverso will run the line
in both matches.
