South African referee Mark Lawrence has announced his retirement from Test refereeing. He will be concentrating on his new role as a coach and mentor to emerging refereeing talent.
This announcement was made on Monday following discussions with Andre Watson, the main man for Referees in Southern Africa. His final Test match was the World Cup warm up match between USA and Canada in August.
He has refereed 27 international Test matches as well as career highlights such as the Currie Cup final in 2007 and the 2008 Super 14 final.
We wish him all the best in his new venture and we hope he brings through some ‘Professional’ referees to take the mantle.
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Still one of my favorite refs!
He probably deserved to go to the WC ahead of Kaplan who’s been poor of late.
Also one of my favourites! Wishing him well!!
Damn!I think he is a really good ref. Deserves more matches – especially compared to some of the muppets out there.
@Big Fish (Comment 3) :
Agreed!
Thats terrible news.
I’m really heartened by the fact that he’ll be mentoring other refrees.
Pity – Lawrence is a good ref.
Talking of muppets. Keo reckons Wayne Barnes is the best referee in the world. 😕 We need a WTF emoticon on here.
Lol
Don’t like andre watson_ never really did.
Go well Mark. 😯 🙁
Wonder how long before he quits provincial rugby?
Good luck Mark! One of the best refs in the world imo!
Hopefully he won`t quit provincial rugby yet . . .
The best referee to not make the RWC. He should have been there if not for the stupid rule of 2 people from each country max. I suppose how else would Brycie’s father manage to get him to the RWC. 🙁
I’ll miss his refereeing. Still remember when a couple of senior Boks were throwing handbags in a CC game and he completely diffused the situation by calmly saying to both parties “Come on guys, you’re better than that.”
@King Shark (Comment 15) : LIKE