.. but tomorrow evening I shall be mainly doing….. wait for it…… pilates!

I had a health screen done a few weeks ago c/o the RFU and core stability was one of the key outcomes. Had some lower back issues in the past and apparently that all in, means I really need to beef up my core.

Coincidentally at the gym the present Mrs Ref and I go to, there’s a new pilates course starting so best bite the bullet and go for it. New one for me, so will report back later in the week!

A change of match for me saw me heading to the far south west rather than the west midlands so an overnighter in my fav hotel was in order. Listening to the weather battering against the hotel window on Fri evening was a tad daunting after Wednesday, but Sat morning brought sunlight and a breeze. Boy was that to change!!

An odd game to watch from the side (TJ duty again). Visitors played the home side at their own game and came out the victors. A ‘healthy’ wind gusting end to end and the home side just didn’t use it. Lots of pick and drive and one side who gave a large space on the back foot. The others trod the line less carefully and were penalised accordingly.

Next weekend, I’ve been asked to ref one of the County Cup finals in the South East. A privilege to be asked and I’m looking forward to heading back to some familiar territory. 

Have a good week!

Well what an interesting start to my mid week endeavours. Was officiating a military against a Prem side A team in Hampshire. Arrived in daylight, pitch looks great, small stadium ideal. Gets dark. Doesn’t get light! Floodlights fail. Oops. Much embarrassment – its a civilian contract so none of the millions (ok, 10) of Royal Engineers on site can do a darn thing about it (legally!.) So we jump across the road and to the Army’s own training lights, kick a game off the better pitch and away we go 20 mins late, just as the heavens open. Great!

Can’t remember the last time I actually got wet refereeing. Strange that eh!?!

Game started interestingly with both sides scoring but then visitors ran away with it. Slopey pitch, dodgy lights and torrential rain didn’t help matters and it got a tad scrappy. Pen count high against home side – they just stopped listening. Mainly for hands in ruck/tackler holding on.  Got a bit slack at start of second half and then had to get back on top of it, get closer, get more verbal, but it didn’t seem to help. at least I recognised I needed to switch back on – a failing Ive done before and suffered as a result of not spotting it.  Progress – however small!  Had one of the home side in the bin, but it should have happened 2 pens earlier. Not sure it would have helped though. But I’ll never know that.

No major issues from anyone afterwards so a job well done.  And at least I avoided another evening of grouting!

Lawrence moves to the IRB

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:39

Keith Lawrence, the man who manages New Zealand’s top referees, is moving to the International Rugby Board, still working with top referees.

Where he was New Zealand’s “High Performance Referee Manager” he will now be the Referee Manager for the IRB’s World Sevens Series and the IRB’s Pacific Nations Cup. He will start his new job in July.

This increases New Zealand’s influence in the IRB’s refereeing set-up, as the manager of referees, Paddy O’Brien is also a New Zealander and is based in Invercargill.

Lawrence had a great career as a referee himself. In days when there were far fewer top matches he refereed 13 Tests between 1985 and 1991, starting with Australia vs Canada and ending with Wales vs Australia at the World Cup.  He refereed at the inaugural World Cup as well, notably the match between Australia and England. In 1989 he refereed a Test between Australia and the British Isles.

Lawrence, a primary school teacher, became a first class referee in 1971 and in all refereed 99 first class matches up to his retirement from active refereeing in 1992. In 1995, with the advent of professional rugby he became a referees development officer (RD), based in the Hawke’s Bay area.

Bryce Lawrence, Keith’s son, has followed a similar path – schoolmaster turned referee but in the professional era which means that he is a full-time referee with far more chances to swan around the world.

NZRU Chief Executive Steve Tew paid tribute to Lawrence for his service as a referee and referee manager, and also as a valued adviser and colleague within the NZRU during a period of significant change in New Zealand rugby history.

… is fed up with DIY. He wishes that he’d seen either of the games yesterday or had something of his own to blog about but sadly, neither is true and I’ve still got 2 walls still to do!

A quiet weekend on the league rugby front sees your favourite blogging ref confined to quarters installing his new bathroom.  Mrs Refblog is not enjoying having to use the downstairs loo. How common!

After watching the weather forecast, it’s no bad thing to be staying home this weekend. However, no rest for the wicked – will be on duty next week doing a warm up game for the Forces game in May so will be confined to military quarters in N Hampshire next Wednesday if anyone fancies a giggle! Kick off is 7.15. The opposition – Bath!

Don’t have too many Easter Eggs readers!

I’ll quickly scoot past the awesome Welsh Grand Slam victory, as it’s really not my place to gloat.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing a cup semi in one of the national competitions. A typical comp – North v South, both level 5 (one South West 1 and one North 1) played on a solid pitch, with the winner lining up a day at Twickenham in 4 weeks. 

Brief to the TJ’s was clear – “Whatever happens, the result of this isn’t going to be down to us.” And so it came to pass. Despite a near Refblog record of 4 yellow cards, it was a really exciting game. Nothing you would call really skillful and some pretty woeful finishing, but there you go – a typical cup semi. One side, I think, wanted it more.

4 yellows: two foul play – one either side, two repeat infringements – one for either side.  Easiest ones in the book. I do sometimes wonder about putting a panel ref on non-panel games in that regard. They clearly aren’t used to being refereed in that way, and for them to adjust so quickly can’t be easy, when so much is at stake. But they all appreciated our efforts and a great team of 3 operation. One great foul play call from one, and a try decision from the other. In a 12-16 final score , those calls are massive and make a difference so you really have to trust the guys to get it right. And get it right we did.

Pretty sure you won’t see and mentions of us in the match reports – just how we like it!

NB – did I mention an awesome Wales win?

Since our southerm hemisphere chums started playing under the full set of ELVs, I took a decision not to watch any of it. Purely because I didnt want to get into the mindset of watching rugby under one set of laws and then to referee a different set. My little brain can barely cope under normal circumstances never mind with all that.

 On the excellent rugby365.com web site there is an analysis produced by Andre Watson (now Referees Manager at SARU). The report (http://www.rugby365.com/laws_referees/home/172854.htm) outlines the changes in the game compared to last years comp at this stage.

Interestingly, there has been a 40% increase in  Pens/FKs. In 2007, there were 437 pens and FKs comared to 615 so far in 08. The strange bit is in Andre’s comment:

Comment: Because of free kicks  in lieu of penalties

So he seems to be saying that where we used to Pen, we now FK. Not a problem with that but surely having more Pen’s or FKs in a game is a bad thing, not a good thing. Though the new ELVs were supposed to help reduce the stoppages, not increase them?

 Anyone been watching and care to comment??

Im sure Im supposed to be telling about my trip to the North West on Sat, and about how I contrived to get a home win by 40-something to 13, put two visiting players in the bin (7 and then 8, 9 and a alf mins later) and produce a less than stunning performance when I failed to persuade Mr Assessor I delib let players go to ground in second half because they were so bad at it, took their own players out of the game and the oppo took full advantage of their mistakes ….

 but fankly, Im shattered after a day trip to Brum and Im retiring to chambers.

 Got a Div 1 on Sat – arrrrggghhh!