Big winter ahead for NZ referees

NEW Zealand referees will take centre stage in the coming months with a record number of international appointments across several series.

For the first time, New Zealand will have six test referees officiating in the June internationals as well as assistant referee and TMOs appointments.

Glen Jackson, Ben O’Keeffe, Mike Fraser, Brendon Pickerill, Paul Williams and Nick Briant will all control one test each and perform assistant referee duties in other fixtures.

Jackson and O’Keeffe will both take charge of tests between England and South Africa, with Williams overseeing a test between Australia and Ireland.

Cam Stone, a member of the national referee squad, has three assistant referee appointments while Ben Skeen, Aaron Patterson and Shane McDermott will all take up television match official duties.

In total, 15 of the 28 June tests will have New Zealand referee involvement.

Sevens referees Richard Kelly and Rebecca Mahoney are in Australia for the sevens matches at the Commonwealth Games while Jamie Nutbrown has been named in the refereeing panel for the World Rugby under20 championship.

National referee manager Bryce Lawrence said the appointments reinforced New Zealand’s ability to produce worldclass referees.

‘‘Our current crop of high performance referees are working incredibly hard and continue to achieve on the world stage. These appointments will see them involved in the biggest matches during the June internationals.

‘‘Having our referees involved in so many top fixtures reaffirms the pathways on offer for referees in our country.

‘‘The opportunities for referees continue to grow; its an exciting time to be in the game and we encourage anyone interested in picking up the whistle to get in touch with their local referee association.’’