EUROPEAN QUARTER-FINALS - APPOINTMENTS

Heineken Cup Quarterfinals

Saturday, 7 April

Edinburgh Rugby vs Toulouse at Murrayfield
Referee: Nigel Owens Wales)
Assistant referees: Andrew Small (England), Stuart Terheege (England)

Leinster Rugby vs Cardiff Blues at Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees: Pascal Gauzere (France), David Changleng (Scotland)

Sunday, 8 April

Munster Rugby vs Ulster Rugby at Thomond Park
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces (France), Matthieu Raynal (France)

Saracens vs Clermont Auvergne at Vicarage Road
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Neil Paterson (Scotland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Amlin Challenge Cup Quarterfinals

Thursday, 5 April
Stade Français Paris vs Exeter Chiefs at Stade Charlety
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Assistant referee James Jones Wales), David Wilkinson (Ireland)

Friday, 6 April
Toulon vs Harlequins at Stade Félix Mayol
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Dudley Phillips (Ireland), Carlo Damasco (Italy)

Saturday, 7 April
London Wasps vs Biarritz Olympique at Adams Park
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Peter Allan (Scotland), Leo Colgan (Ireland)

Sunday, 8 April
Brive vs Scarlets at Stadium Amédée Domenech
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Greg Garner (England), Paul Dix (England)

PenfroPete wrote:
Sunday, 8 April

Munster Rugby vs Ulster Rugby at Thomond Park
Referee: Romain Poite (France) Ronan O'Gara (Cork)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces (France), Matthieu Raynal (France)

Fixed it for you Penfro.......

Blind Dave Pearson. Great

Dave Pearson is going to have a second chance to send Bradley Davies off in the Aviva.

Nice one.

We haven't got the best - Owens
but we haven't got the worst either - Pearson

so we cant complain.
The thing about Poite is he tends to favour the team going forward in the scrum even if they are infringing

Thats good Geoff because I am absolutely convinced that we will beast Munster in the scrum. 100% certain. As sure as day follows night.

roddersm wrote:Thats good Geoff because I am absolutely convinced that we will beast Munster in the scrum. 100% certain. As sure as day follows night.

Bring it on - I looking forward to BJ getting "beasted"

Drawing Poite will mean that the pack with the most tricks up their sleeves (AKA the biggest cheaters) will have dominance.

Pearson though, feic sake…

Drawing Poite will mean that the pack with the most tricks up their sleeves (AKA the biggest cheaters) will have dominance

Definitly, there won't be any quick rugby as the rules for French refs at the minute is to encourage as much hands in, flopping over and lying offside as possible.

Person isn't as bad as some are making out, he's not all that good but to desvribe him as the worst and Owens as 'the best' is pretty harsh.

Pearson just has an uncanny knack of pishing off Irish teams.

Mickado wrote:
Pearson just has an uncanny knack of pishing off Irish teams.

Agree with this. The luck of the green rarely goes our way when he is the ref

BlueMuff wrote:

roddersm wrote:Thats good Geoff because I am absolutely convinced that we will beast Munster in the scrum. 100% certain. As sure as day follows night.

Bring it on - I looking forward to BJ getting "beasted"

Court has his number bluemuff .....

At least you haven't got half French Alain Rolland reffing your teams.

Can't understand why Edinburgh vs Toulouse game gets the best ref.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Drawing Poite will mean that the pack with the most tricks up their sleeves (AKA the biggest cheaters) will have dominance

Definitly, there won't be any quick rugby as the rules for French refs at the minute is to encourage as much hands in, flopping over and lying offside as possible.

Person isn't as bad as some are making out, he's not all that good but to desvribe him as the worst and Owens as 'the best' is pretty harsh.

Pearson is a homes and that is what annoys me. To clarify when I say worst I mean worst of the 4 doing HC games not the worst referee there is.

We had Owens at a home game recently and it was 30 minutes before I remember that he was the referree. Just got on with it with quiet efficiency. It was such a pleasure after having joke referees against Cardiff and Ospreys

To be fair Owens seemed to improve over the RWC and is a better ref this season than last season. It just seemed every game he reffed us last year he had no control whatsoever on the breakdown and it became a messy free for all within minutes of the kick off. Players not releasing the tackler, not rolling away and coming in at the side were all par for the course in an Owens game last year. He has improved since then though.

I forget is Clancey a ref people like or not?

Can't remember the last game he was involved in...

yappysnap wrote:I forget is Clancey a ref people like or not?

Can't remember the last game he was involved in...

I remember the last game I saw him in

Barnes, Pearson and Lawrence 'dropped' from the IRB 'Elite' panel

New panel is George Clancy (Ireland), Jérôme Garcès (France), Craig Joubert (South Africa), Nigel Owens (Wales), Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Romain Poite (France), Alain Rolland (Ireland) and Steve Walsh (Australia).



FULL STORY

As an Irishman I cant stand him.

Technically correct but no feel for the game.
He ruined our game at Cardiff and the Wales v Italy game.

geoff998rugby wrote:As an Irishman I cant stand him.

Technically correct but no feel for the game.
He ruined our game at Cardiff and the Wales v Italy game.

+1000 the "Technically correct" means he continues to tick all the IRB's boxes. Ref's like a man who knows the laws inside out but never played the game. I know he did, just ref's like he didn't

beshocked wrote:At least you haven't got half French Alain Rolland reffing your teams.

Can't understand why Edinburgh vs Toulouse game gets the best ref.

He might be half French but he played for Leinster and Ireland. He's hardly biased towards French teams. He might not be very good, but he at least he isn't biased.

Rolland gets the game for the simple reason he speaks French

Mickado wrote:

beshocked wrote:At least you haven't got half French Alain Rolland reffing your teams.

Can't understand why Edinburgh vs Toulouse game gets the best ref.

He might be half French but he played for Leinster and Ireland. He's hardly biased towards French teams. He might not be very good, but he at least he isn't biased.

I think Welsh and English fans would beg to differ!

A lot of Welsh fans believe the red card for Warburton was a harsh call and it was. His reffing of England vs France was very poor and could have cost England the game.

Maybe he's not purposely biased but he's given France a helping hand on two recent occasions.

I am nervous.

beshocked wrote:

Mickado wrote:

beshocked wrote:At least you haven't got half French Alain Rolland reffing your teams.

Can't understand why Edinburgh vs Toulouse game gets the best ref.

He might be half French but he played for Leinster and Ireland. He's hardly biased towards French teams. He might not be very good, but he at least he isn't biased.

I think Welsh and English fans would beg to differ!

A lot of Welsh fans believe the red card for Warburton was a harsh call and it was. His reffing of England vs France was very poor and could have cost England the game.

Maybe he's not purposely biased but he's given France a helping hand on two recent occasions.

I am nervous.

It was a tough call, but it was the right call. And i know a lot of Welsh people who would agree.

Mickado you cannot deny that it was the turning point in match and meant that France were very likely to win.

I just hope that Rolland doesn't want to be the star of the show.

beshocked wrote:Mickado you cannot deny that it was the turning point in match and meant that France were very likely to win.

I just hope that Rolland doesn't want to be the star of the show.

I don't deny that. But that doesn't mean it wasn't the right call.

Yes you are correct it was the right call if you stick strictly to the laws. In reality it ruined the world cup semi final as a contest and completely dominated the headlines.

I don't like Rolland as a ref, not because he's half French, it's because I haven't been particularly impressed with his recent performances and don't like the way he runs the game.

I much prefer Owens,Poite,Pearson and Barnes.

So what have we got?

Leinster have an English ref that they will claim gives Ireland/Irish players a hard time.

Saracens have an Irish ref they say gives France/French players an easy time.

I guess both Saracens and Leinster will have to bring their best A game and make sure to negate either the lack of favouritism or favouritism those refs might bring/or be seen to bring with them.

beshocked wrote:Yes you are correct it was the right call if you stick strictly to the laws. In reality it ruined the world cup semi final as a contest and completely dominated the headlines.

I don't like Rolland as a ref, not because he's half French, it's because I haven't been particularly impressed with his recent performances and don't like the way he runs the game.

I much prefer Owens,Poite,Pearson and Barnes.

Is that what the ref is there for though, sticking to the laws? If Warburton makes a tackles which deserves a red, which then ruins the semi final as a contest then that's a cross he has to bare. Luckily for the fella he's as strong as an ox mentally and just captained the GS winning side.

SecretFly wrote:So what have we got?

Leinster have an English ref that they will claim gives Ireland/Irish players a hard time.

Saracens have an Irish ref they say gives France/French players an easy time.

I guess both Saracens and Leinster will have to bring their best A game and make sure to negate either the lack of favouritism or favouritism those refs might bring/or be seen to bring with them.

Alternatively we could just swap refs!

I think Clermont are a little tougher than Cardiff though!

beshocked wrote:
Alternatively we could just swap refs!

I think Clermont are a little tougher than Cardiff though!

I wouldn't take Rolland. He'd blow Leinster off the field just to be seen as the epitomy of objectivity (which he of course wouldn't be if he did it to us!)

Anyway, about Cardiff.................... let's wait and see just who is tough and who isn't. These games.................these games can have a life of their own and anything can happen.

To say that ulster will dominate the scrum worries me somewhat! We must not forget that BJ transformed our scrummaging he was our unofficial scrummaging coach for 3 seasons, I am sure he taught court and brought him on considerably. The old boy will have a few tricks up his sleeve. Then again Afoa is a beast and will really push Du prez to the limit.

If we get parity or even a slight dominance at scrum time I can see poite favouring us somewhat.

All refs are useless, Owens is slightly ahead of the pack but still doesn't really know how to ref the set piece.
One call that refs always make that annoys me, is being the taken in the air in the lineout.Half the time, the lifters just drop the second row or backrowers and it is called as a penalty.

BelfastDickVet wrote:To say that ulster will dominate the scrum worries me somewhat! We must not forget that BJ transformed our scrummaging he was our unofficial scrummaging coach for 3 seasons, I am sure he taught court and brought him on considerably. The old boy will have a few tricks up his sleeve. Then again Afoa is a beast and will really push Du prez to the limit.

If we get parity or even a slight dominance at scrum time I can see poite favouring us somewhat.

Ye of little faith Dick