The BCRU are running Level 1 Officiating courses in September and October in the following locations. Their media release is posted below with a highlight on local referee Kristine Lovatt who recently officiated the Brazil vs Netherlands match. The registration page is here.
You would think being #2 in the World that there would be some Canadian officiating representation at the Women’s Rugby World Cup to be held in England later this year. All the top 10 ranked countries have representation among the 22 officials selected… except Canada. England, Australia, Italy all have 3 selections, South Africa, NZ, Scotland, USA have 2. There are singles from France, Portugal, Wales, Ireland and Zimbabwe.
Three BC match officials have been named to the World Rugby appointments for the WXV tournaments. Julianne Zussman will officiate at WXV 1 in Vancouver, Chris Assmus will be TMO at WXV 2 in South Africa and Shanda Assmus will officiate at WXV 3 in Dubai. All tournaments take place over September and October this year.
There were a number of Canadian match official appointments made this summer by World Rugby. Talal Chaudhry was selected for Rugby 7s at the Olympics, he’ll be working in the women’s tournament. Robin Kaluzniak will be Assistant Referee in two test matches this summer, USA vs Romania and USA vs Scotland. Chris Assmus will be the TMO at the USA vs Scotland match.
Wayne Barnes refereed more international tests than anyone else in the history of rugby, including at five Men’s World Cups where he held the whistle in the 2023 Final. His autobiography – Throwing the Book: The Strife and Crimes of a RUGBY Referee – is particularly relevant for understanding the psychological pressure on referees, the values and integrity of the game, and his insight into how the game ought to be played.
[ed. thanks to Aaron McDonald who brought this story to our attention.]
Sure she’s listed as NZR in the World Rugby program to denote she’s representing NZ Rugby but she’s Canadian, she travelled to NZ on a student visa in 2014 to start a new adventure and ended up staying there, well except for the trips back home to visit family at Christmas.
[ed. Chris Assmus is TMO for USA vs French Barbarians, and Talal Chaudhry is AR for USA for Chile. There are no Canadian International matches listed yet.]
World Rugby has confirmed the match official appointments for the mens 15s internationals to be played in June and July.
There’s a Level 1 Match Officials training course starting this week and anyone interested in picking up the whistle is encouraged to register.
Congratulations to Julianne Zussman who is the lone Canadian representative in the 22 match officials named by World Rugby to handle the Olympic Rugby 7s competition in Tokyo.