There will be two New Zealanders in the middle in Auckland and Nelson respectively, as Chris Pollock and Bryce Lawrence have been appointed as the men charged with conducting proceedings.
The supporting cast also has a strong New Zealand flavour to it.
Super 15 Play-Offs Officials
Blues vs Waratahs, Eden Park, Auckland
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Stuart Dickinson, Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Television match official: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Crusaders vs Sharks, Trafalgar Park, Nelson
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Keith Brown (New Zealand), Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Television match official: Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)
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A strong New Zealand flavour???
It is a rather overwhelming flavour that!!
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 1) :
Don’t worry Dicko will be out to steal the show! 😯
Timaru? You mean Nelson? 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 3) :
Good point boss….. hard keeping up with their home ground it was Wellington last week!
I wonder where they will play the final against the Blues?
Super Rugby semi-final appointments:
(Both semi-finals to held on Saturday, 2 July)
Reds v Tbc
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-off: 19:40 (09:40 GMT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (SA)
Assistant referees: Stuart Dickinson (Aus), James Leckie (Aus)
TMO: George Ayoub (Aus)
Stormers vs Tbc
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off: 17:05 (15:05 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (SA)
Assistant referees: Marius Jonker (SA), Stefan Breytenbach (SA)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (SA)
Kiwis to blow whistle in Semi-finals? 🙄 😈
Kiwis blow quarters and Saffas blow semis 🙂
@McLovin (Comment 6) : @Jarson (AddicteD) (Comment 7) :
Sorry good point ….. i’ll call them the play-offs 😉
@Jarson (AddicteD) (Comment 7) :
Then maybe we could say top ref gets final 😎
Mark Lawrence will referee the Super Rugby Final.
@McLovin (Comment 10) :
I thought its Bryce Lawrence?!
@McLovin (Comment 10) :
I think you will find it is Bryce 😉
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 11) : snap
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 11) : @Hertford Highlander (Comment 12) : Well spotted.
Deliberate mistake. 😉
@McLovin (Comment 14) : 😉
Gotts say that the SHarks task is gonna be made more difficult with Bryce – I don’t think an all NZ contingent is fair. There is no humanly way they can be unbiased on such a huge occasion.
@Just a Fan (Comment 16) : so how’s this…. apparently each team has a “referee adviser” on call… a tournament referee on-hand to help them out with interpretations and so on.
Give you 0 points if you can correctly guess who plays this role for the Crusaders 🙂
Why isn’t Pro running touch in the Play-offs or semi’s? 🙂
@Ben (Comment 18) : They must be resting him for the final! 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 17) : Tell please
@robdylan (Comment 17) : bryce and who’s for the sharks?
@Ice (Comment 20) : Bryce Lawrence.
@Ben (Comment 19) : they’ve figured that there is a strong possibility of the sharks making it so they try to level the field for the stormers
@robdylan (Comment 17) : can we renegotiate the points allocation.
@rekinek (Comment 21) : of course it’s Bryce.
Not sure who the Sharks have. Probably Joubert or Mark Lawrence. Point is, we don’t have “our” ref blowing this game… why should they have theirs?
@robdylan (Comment 25) : Then we should just play like them! Problem solved!
I agree – thats a bit much to make it “fair”
@Hertford Highlander (Comment 4) : hahaha hahaha
To think that there might not be a NZ team in the semis 🙂
@franshark (Comment 27) : HH is a funny guy! 🙂
@franshark (Comment 28) : Best possible outcome for us would be this. Tahs beat Blues. We beat Saders. Tahs beat Stormers. We beat Reds. Final in Sydney as we will then still be in Aus after playing the Reds and the Tahs will have to fly back from SA for the final.
Wishfull thinking.
@robdylan (Comment 25) : Because he has been deemed to be the best referee of the tournament.
Undoubtedly daddy dearest had a whisper in Mr. Bray’s ear. 🙁
@Ben (Comment 30) : that’s what’s gonna happen 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 25) : Exactly – thats acutally shocking……
Is there no way to start a media frenzzy for this? And there is NO way that Bryce is best in the tournament – maybe they judge the refs on the penalties NOT given against the kiwis……
is there somewhere where we can see a ref’s track record against teams?
I’ve asked Greg Peters…. he tells me that Bryce is NOT the Crusaders adviser
@robdylan (Comment 35) : so you were just spreading gossip 😈 😀
@robdylan (Comment 35) : Ask him what position Bryce’s father hold now in the NZRFU.
He used to be the referee’s manager before becoming the IRB 7s circuit referee’s manager.
I’d love to know what he does now.
@robdylan (Comment 25) :
I bet ours is Pro…..
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 38) :
BTW he has changed his name his new name is “Notso”
Does anyone know if Jafta will be reffing SupeRugby next year?