EPCR Ref Manager appoints Dublin-born ref for Munster Euro semifinal

The referee appointments for the high-profile Champions Cup and Challenge Cup semi-finals were announced today (Wednesday, 11 April) following a meeting of EPCR's selection committee which is chaired by EPCR's Head of Match Officials, Joel Jutge.

The selection committee has appointed the FFR's Romain Poite for the Champions Cup semi-final between No 1-ranked Leinster Rugby and the Scarlets at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on Saturday, 21 April, with JP Doyle of the RFU taking charge of the Racing 92 v Munster Rugby clash at Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux the following day.

The first of the Challenge Cup semi-finals between last season's defeated finalists, Gloucester Rugby, and the Newcastle Falcons at Kingsholm will be refereed by Pascal Gauzère of the FFR, while the IRFU's John Lacey will be in the middle for the second Challenge Cup tie featuring former winners, Cardiff Blues and Pau, at the Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday, 21 April.

CHAMPIONS CUP SEMI-FINALS
(Kick-offs local time)

Saturday, 21 April - Leinster Rugby v Scarlets
Aviva Stadium (Dublin) 15.30
Referee: Romain Poite (FFR)
Sky Sports / beIN SPORTS

Sunday, 22 April - Racing 92 v Munster Rugby
Stade Chaban-Delmas (Bordeaux) 16.15
Referee: JP Doyle (RFU)
FR2 / BT Sport / beIN SPORTS
CHALLENGE CUP SEMI-FINALS
(Kick-offs local time)

Friday, 20 April - Gloucester Rugby v Newcastle Falcons
Kingsholm Stadium 19.45
Referee: Pascal Gauzère (FFR)
BT Sport / beIN SPORTS

Saturday, 21 April - Cardiff Blues v Pau
Cardiff Arms Park 13.00
Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)
Sky Sports / FR4 / beIN SPORTS

That’s Munster’s goose cooked so.

Why did they go for neutral refs? Seems a waste of money to fly refs in when you have pro refs from the country where the semi final is being played.

They always have refs from the other leagues for Europe don't they?

No 7&1/2 wrote:They always have refs from the other leagues for Europe don't they?

You’re right. It’s not about countries anymore, it’s about leagues.

Good call, 7.5.

The Blazer influence over Rugby Union continues to hold the game back.

Pot Hale wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:They always have refs from the other leagues for Europe don't they?

You’re right. It’s not about countries anymore, it’s about leagues.

Good call, 7.5.

It shouldn’t matter which league or country they’re from. They’re all professional refs aren’t they? And therefore not prone to bias? Do the tournament organisers not agree? Save the money. Go local.

The Oracle wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:They always have refs from the other leagues for Europe don't they?

You’re right. It’s not about countries anymore, it’s about leagues.

Good call, 7.5.

It shouldn’t matter which league or country they’re from. They’re all professional refs aren’t they? And therefore not prone to bias? Do the tournament organisers not agree? Save the money. Go local.

All humans are prone to bias.

I doubt a Ryanair flight to Paris is going to break the bank

BamBam wrote:I doubt a Ryanair flight to Paris is going to break the bank

They love hiking up the prices during rugby

PhilBB wrote:

The Oracle wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:They always have refs from the other leagues for Europe don't they?

You’re right. It’s not about countries anymore, it’s about leagues.

Good call, 7.5.

It shouldn’t matter which league or country they’re from. They’re all professional refs aren’t they? And therefore not prone to bias? Do the tournament organisers not agree? Save the money. Go local.

All humans are prone to bias.

So no human refs. Sorted

carpet baboon wrote:

PhilBB wrote:

The Oracle wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:They always have refs from the other leagues for Europe don't they?

You’re right. It’s not about countries anymore, it’s about leagues.

Good call, 7.5.

It shouldn’t matter which league or country they’re from. They’re all professional refs aren’t they? And therefore not prone to bias? Do the tournament organisers not agree? Save the money. Go local.

All humans are prone to bias.

So no human refs. Sorted

John Lacey and George Clancy will be busy.

PhilBB wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:

PhilBB wrote:

The Oracle wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:They always have refs from the other leagues for Europe don't they?

You’re right. It’s not about countries anymore, it’s about leagues.

Good call, 7.5.

It shouldn’t matter which league or country they’re from. They’re all professional refs aren’t they? And therefore not prone to bias? Do the tournament organisers not agree? Save the money. Go local.

All humans are prone to bias.

So no human refs. Sorted

John Lacey and George Clancy will be busy.

Touché.
Three-ché
Sabrina.
Hooray!

But on a semi serious note, yes all humans are biased in one way or another, so why dont we, as adults and fans, except that they are professionals doing their job.

Sure it's only the Pro14 who do things like this

carpet baboon wrote:But on a semi serious note, yes all humans are biased in one way or another, so why dont we, as adults and fans, except that they are professionals doing their job.

Agreed. So why go to such long lengths to get referees for these euro games when we have capable, professional, experienced refs living in the same country as these semi finals are being played? What are the tournament organisers playing at? What message are they trying to send?

Well we have an ex- Connacht player reffing with an all Irish TJs and TMO team in our game at Scotstoun v Connacht tomorrow night - feckin unbelievable.

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Well we have an ex- Connacht player reffing with an all Irish TJs and TMO team in our game at Scotstoun v Connacht tomorrow night - feckin unbelievable.  

Always good to get excuses in early

We had a ref who's cousin was in the opposing team, number of complaints......a big fat zero

This is the price to be paid with involving teams from other countries in the competitions.

If Wales and Scotland were not involved, we wouldn’t have this problem with our game.

The problem the Pro14 have is that the majority of refs come from Ireland and Wales. Scotland and Italy have very few and theres only 2 from South Africa.


I think it would be worth doing a ref swap with other competitions. Super rugbyhave the same problem with refs so it would be ideal if we could swap 3 or 4 of ours for 3 or 4 of theirs every season. They could be based in London.


If not that then why not just hire out a few refs from the south hemisphere, for the season?? It would cost money but if 2 of them were hired then it could slash the percentage of games where refs referee teams from their own country and result in great fan satisfaction.

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Well we have an ex- Connacht player reffing with an all Irish TJs and TMO team in our game at Scotstoun v Connacht tomorrow night - feckin unbelievable.  

But I thought we’d all agreed that this wasn’t a problem in the Pro14. That it was ruining the league by mentioning it? That it amounted to accusations of cheating?

I hate getting refs from other Provinces, because they more than likely played against us and hate all other provinces.

Alain Rolland used hate Munster, and JP Doyle (both ex-Leinster) has not been much better. In general, when reffing a team from their own country, refs bend over backwards as well to look to be fair so you don't get any benefits of 50/50 calls. The Welsh refer to Nigel Owens as Nigel O'Owens

Sin é wrote:I hate getting refs from other Provinces, because they more than likely played against us and hate all other provinces.

Alain Rolland used hate Munster, and JP Doyle (both ex-Leinster) has not been much better. In general, when reffing a team from their own country, refs bend over backwards as well to look to be fair so you don't get any benefits of 50/50 calls. The Welsh refer to Nigel Owens as Nigel O'Owens

It's true, we all do, every one of us, mun.

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Well we have an ex- Connacht player reffing with an all Irish TJs and TMO team in our game at Scotstoun v Connacht tomorrow night - feckin unbelievable.  

Unbelievable. 35-22. How did Connacht lose this game?

Pot Hale wrote:

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Well we have an ex- Connacht player reffing with an all Irish TJs and TMO team in our game at Scotstoun v Connacht tomorrow night - feckin unbelievable.  

Unbelievable.  35-22. How did Connacht lose this game?

Can't say for sure, but if I was to hazard a guess it would be that Glasgow scored more points!

cakeordeath wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Well we have an ex- Connacht player reffing with an all Irish TJs and TMO team in our game at Scotstoun v Connacht tomorrow night - feckin unbelievable.  

Unbelievable.  35-22. How did Connacht lose this game?

Can't say for sure, but if I was to hazard a guess it would be that Glasgow scored more points!

With an Irish Ref. A Connacht ref. And Irish officials. How do the Scots get away with it?!!

As I posted on the match thread Frank Murphy was not that biased on Friday night - just shockingly incompetent. He was so bad he made Clancy and co. look semi- competent. The Pro 14 strike again !

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:As I posted on the match thread Frank Murphy was not that  biased on Friday night - just shockingly incompetent.     He was so bad he made Clancy and co. look semi- competent.     The Pro 14 strike again !

I love “not that biased”

Is that like being a ‘little bit pregnant’? Or more accurately being ‘not that pregnant’?

Pot Hale wrote:

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:As I posted on the match thread Frank Murphy was not that  biased on Friday night - just shockingly incompetent.     He was so bad he made Clancy and co. look semi- competent.     The Pro 14 strike again !

I love “not that biased”

Is that like being a ‘little bit pregnant’?  Or more accurately being ‘not that pregnant’?  

He was pretty sh!t though.

cakeordeath wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:As I posted on the match thread Frank Murphy was not that  biased on Friday night - just shockingly incompetent.     He was so bad he made Clancy and co. look semi- competent.     The Pro 14 strike again !

I love “not that biased”

Is that like being a ‘little bit pregnant’?  Or more accurately being ‘not that pregnant’?  

He was pretty sh!t though.

How is your reffing course going? On course for reffing RWC final 2019?