Referees confirmed for Champions Cup and Challenge Cup Rounds 4 & 5
The referees for Rounds Three and Four of the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup have been confirmed. The return of EPCR’s tournaments with qualification for the knockout stages on the line will see Ireland’s Chris Busby taking charge of the key Champions Cup, Pool One clash between in-form Union Bordeaux-Bègles and Saracens next Sunday, January 14.
The Round Three meeting of Union Bordeaux-Bègles – one of only three teams with a maximum 10 points to date – and the reigning Premiership champions at Stade Chaban-Delmas.
Matthew Carley of England has been appointed for the head-to-head between Stade Toulousain, also with a maximum return from their opening fixtures, and Ulster Rugby at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday, January 13, while Italy’s Andrea Piardi will be in the middle the following day when Bath – who like Stade Toulousain have 10 points in Pool Two – host Racing 92 at the Recreation Ground.
On Saturday, January 13, England’s Christophe Ridley will referee unbeaten Leinster’s Pool Four confrontation with Stade Francais Paris at Lansdowne Road.
Andrew Brace of Ireland will be in charge when Leicester Tigers, who like Leinster have nine points in Pool Four, travel to face the holders Stade Rochelais at Stade Marcel-Deflandre on Sunday, January 14.
The two unbeaten teams in Pool Three, Exeter Chiefs and Northampton Saints, who host Glasgow Warriors and Aviron Bayonnais respectively, will have their Round Three matches refereed by France’s Pierre Brousset and Mike Adamson of Scotland.
The Challenge Cup gets underway again on Friday, January 12, and France’s Tual Trainini has been appointed for the Pool Two meeting of Newcastle Falcons and Benetton at Kingston Park, while Morné Ferreira of South Africa will be in the middle when the Ospreys are up against Perpignan in Swansea also in Pool Two on the same day.
The fixture between Pool One leaders, the Cheetahs, and Section Paloise at the NRCA Stadium in Amsterdam will be refereed by Scotland’s Hollie Davidson.
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Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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