Nigel Owens has been handed a key role amid a significant shake-up in the officiating of the United Rugby Championship.
The World Cup final referee is one of four independent assessors who have been appointed to review the performances of match officials in the cross-border competition.
In the past, the respective Unions have assessed their own officials via their referee managers, but now there’s a change of policy.
Wales’ Owens has been joined by Ireland’s George Clancy, South Africa’s Stuart Berry and Scotland’s Neil Paterson on the four-man independent selection panel. It will be their job to give their verdict on officials’ performances and draw up an elite group of referees.
Explaining the move, the URC’s Head of Match Officials Tappe Henning said: “We have changed the structure in terms of how we review match officials’ performances. In the past, it was done by the referee managers from each of the five Unions, who wrote assessments. We have now switched to four independent assessors as a selectors panel.
“They will do those reviews with me, as the chairman of that group. All four of them are recently retired international referees. They are independent in the sense that they are not directly responsible for the development or progress of individuals within their Unions.
“By doing this, we have aligned ourselves to the model World Rugby is using to assess international performances. The idea is to bring a fresh pair of eyes and fresh thinking into the model.
“The aim of that then is to get to an elite group of referees selected on merit and not necessarily on representation from each Union, to bring credibility to the match officials we appoint. That’s the long-term goal.”
Owens took charge of the 2015 World Cup final between New Zealand and Australia. He was also appointed to the England versus New Zealand semi-final in 2019, the game many regarded as the best of the tournament.
In another move, the URC has appointed former Scotland hooker Steve Scott as a set-piece consultant. Scott, who has coached at Sale and Edinburgh, will add his expertise to help with the officiating of scrum and lineout.
Henning said: “It’s hugely important to improve our referees’ knowledge all the time. Two areas we have identified where we can get some professional help is around the scrum and lineout maul.
“Steve is an ex-international hooker and currently forwards coach of Romania. He will look at the outcome at each and every scrum and lineout that takes place and assess the performance of the referees there.
“Most of our referees never played in the forwards, to be honest. Steve has 17 years of experience of coaching forwards. Having him on board will help referees to understand the set-piece process a bit better and then hopefully that will lead to better decision-making and more accuracy in reading situations.
“He will also engage with the forwards coaches of the clubs to discuss matters that they raise. He will then be our link, so we develop a better understanding between referees and clubs about how we deal with the set-pieces and the expectations there. The main aim is consistency and understanding our responsibilites on both sides in that part of the game.”
In other news, referees and TMOs will be paired in a continuation of a policy first introduced in the 16-team league last season.
“They are the two main decision makers. Our aim is to appoint those in pairings. The more they work together the more effective they become and the better understanding there is between them. It will build the confidence between those two individuals," said the South African Henning, a former international referee himself.
“It will then take less time to reach what we call ‘the money shot’, the right decision, when it goes to the TMO. It also means the TMO can make calls without stopping the game and calling for an official referral. He can give information to the referee that the referee trusts for something that’s only a penalty and doesn’t need to be referred.”
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