Referee Meetings

What are t he rules governing coaches meeting of f icials in Test week? We f ind out

In the week leading up to ‘Ruckgate’ at Twickenham in 2017, Conor O’Shea discussed Italy’s planned tactics – to not contest rucks so there would be no offside line – with Romain Poite. The referee was happy with Italy’s approach, but it took England’s players a while to solve the problem.

Last year, Marius van der Westhuizen was replaced as an assistant referee for the England v Ireland match after attending an England training session.

So what are the rules around officials meeting with coaches or players in the build-up to Tests? Tony Spreadbury, RFU’s head of professional game match officials “Separate meetings may be held with the referee and coaches and/or players of each team the day before a Test match, where both parties have the opportunity to discuss any interpretation and/or clarification on protocols.

“If a coach wishes to talk to a referee before this meeting, they may do so as long as official World Rugby protocol is followed: the request must be made through World Rugby’s high performance match official manager; no direct contact should be made.” @Keelan_Foley Marius van der Westhuizen is the “genius” who decided it was okay to train the English team ahead of their 6nations clash with Ireland @tomdecent ARU making official complaint to World Rugby integrity over a meeting between referee and Steve Hansen before game @maureenchuck1 If Cheika thinks pre-match meeting with refs is to influence them he should be sacked @DuncanBech Eddie Jones responds to Oz bullying claim by criticising Cheika for not meeting ref: “It’s a sign of respect that you want to know what the ref wants”