Wayne Barnes: Clermont v Montpellier
England's Wayne Barnes will get the Heineken Cup quarter-finals underway when he referees the all-French tie between Clermont and Montpellier at Stade Marcel Michelin on April 6.
It's a game of firsts as Clermont will host their first home quarter-final and Montpellier make their first appearance amongst the tournament's last eight teams.
France's Romain Poite will take charge of the clash between Saracens and last year's runners-up, Ulster at Twickenham.
That match is also on April 6 and Jerôme Garces of France and George Clancy of Ireland will referee the other two ties on April 7.
Garces will be the man in the middle when Harlequins host Munster at Twickenham Stoop and Clancy has been appointed to referee the match between Toulon and Leicester at Stade Félix Mayol.
The match officials for the quarter-finals were announced on Tuesday after the ERC match officials sub-committee held a meeting to review match officials' performances in various competitions.
They also consulted referee managers in each union and club coaching staff before making the appointments.
"We will be asking the match officials to continue to focus on key areas of the game in order to allow a contest for the ball by both teams and to give the ball-carrying team the space to play within the laws," ERC match official performance manager Donal Courtney told the ERC website.
"The officials will be reminded to effectively manage all aspects of the scrum, as well as tackle and ruck situations, in particular where players wilfully go off their feet to prevent a fair contest for the ball.
"They will also be asked to be strict on issues of foul play, especially dangerous tackles, and to be vigilant for lineout maul obstruction and for players going offside from kicks."
As the tournament intensifies for the knockout stage, the assistant referees for the four quarter-finals have been appointed on the basis of their experience, whereas for the pool stage, assistant referees were nominated by the Unions of the match referees.
Heineken Cup quarter-final match officials:
Saturday, April 6
ASM Clermont Auvergne v Montpellier, Stade Marcel Michelin
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: JP Doyle (England), Stuart Terheege (England)
Saracens v Ulster Rugby, Twickenham Stadium
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees Leighton Hodges (Wales), Cedric Marchat (France)
Sunday, April 7
Harlequins v Munster Rugby, Twickenham Stoop
Referee: Jerôme Garces (France)
Assistant referees: Neil Paterson (Scotland), Laurent Cardona (France)
Toulon v Leicester Tigers, Stade Félix Mayol
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Leo Colgan (Ireland)
Comments
lawynd says...
@giomamo - yes, I'm completely there with you, although I appreciate my opinion as a fan of the opposition after the fact may ring hollow. The IRB have to get hold of this situation and ensure that all referees from different countries are singing from the same hymn sheet, simplify and clarify the laws, especially at the set pieces and breakdowns, but most of all, encourage more former players to become referees. There simply aren't enough to go around (especially with the 'neutral' referee situation - I'd much rather have Poite for this fixture, French or not), so we keep having to suffer the inadequacies of referees like Clancy, Barnes and Walsh.
Posted 10:05 21st March 2013
giomamo says...
@lawynd: Good luck for your team with Clancy. He made disasters in Eng-Ita match at Twickenham. Here's the link to a dossier about his refereeing in that match sent by FIR (Italian Rugby Federation) to IRB High Performance Match Official Manager, Mr.Joel Jutge:
http://www.ilneroilrugby.it/2013/03/21/litalia-se-desta-il-dossier-clancy/
The incredible thing is that Jutge admits that he isn't "satisfied by his performances", but the Board still decided to give him a so important HC quarter final match!
Posted 08:50 21st March 2013
lawynd says...
Oh, don't get me wrong - I'm under no illusions regarding Leicester's progress but Clancy's appointment has all but confirmed the Toulon win already. Nevertheless, I shall enjoy my time on the Riviera!
Posted 18:26 20th March 2013
Dafyddg84 says...
Yeah, because going away to the Felix-Mayol you'd have had a chance in hell. Go down there, catch some rays, drink some wine and start planning for next year ;)
Posted 15:13 20th March 2013
Ramage says...
@lawynd lol,lol.
Posted 11:35 20th March 2013
lawynd says...
Oh for crying out loud, that's Leicester out then. Why do we continually have to suffer Clancy's guessereeing?
Posted 15:59 19th March 2013