Referees Corner – Issue 6 – Connacht – 2025/26

Happy New Year!! Welcome to this week’s referee’s corner for this game between Leinster and Ulster. Today’s match referee is Andrew Brace. Andrew was born in Cardiff, Wales. He started playing rugby union in Cardiff when he was 12. Between 2010 and 2017 Brace worked as a community rugby officer for Munster Rugby. He previously worked as a community development officer for Cardiff Blues. Brace continued working as a community rugby officer until 2017 when, together with George Clancy, John Lacey and Joy Neville he was one of seven referees offered professional contracts by the IRFU. He is still contracted with Eoghan Cross and Peter Martin. 

He also previously played for Old Crescent. While playing for Old Crescent, Brace was contacted by an agent to play for the Belgium national team. Brace qualified to represent Belgium through his father’s family. He subsequently helped Belgium win the 2012 Emirates Cup of Nations. He also played for Belgium in the 2012–14 European Nations Cup First Division. This is his 13th time refereeing Leinster. He is supported by Keane Davidson and Christopher Lough. Olly Hodges is the TMO with Paul Haycock deep in the bunker. We wish him and his team well today. 

We have had a busy season across our regions. In Leinster we have five main regions – Metro Area run by John Kerr, Midlands Area run by Trevor McHugh, North East Area run by David Jenkins, North Midlands Area run by Alistair Finlayson and the South East Area run by Paul BK. We have seen a notable increase in appointments this season. We are up over 200 appointments than this time last year. In November alone we appointed to 900+ games, over 100 more than November last year. Last season saw us appoint to 500 more games than the previous year and we are already on course to beat that this season. Of course all this needs referees. Please refer to the details below on how to become one.

The Northeast, run by David Jenkins,  has been very busy this season with 6 new referees in the area. 2 of those referees have passed to full membership and the other 4 are making good progress towards that goal through training and assessments. The area now has 51 members in the area between referees, evaluators and mentors. Sadly this number is not enough to cover all the games in the area, so we are always recruiting. The growth of the number of games particularly in schools and women’s rugby has been a great success but has out paced our recruitment. The monthly meetings, for training and exchange of ideas between the experienced and newer members, are well attended and are a great social outlet for the members. 

The Metro is no different. Run by John Kerr, they started off with 21 trainees. 10 have passed to full membership. 6 still to complete and a couple dropped out – hey its not for everyone. John spoke to some of his new recruits on why they took up the whistle. “Rugby has provided me with great opportunities playing and coaching. Refereeing became the obvious next step to have truly full involvement in my sport” Arthur Griffin (Malahide) 

“I was looking for ways to involve myself more in rugby so I thought why not try my hand at reffing. I have loved meeting people from other clubs and visiting grounds – and of course there’s an added benefit of helping me stay fit” . Michael Kiernan (Emerald Warriors RFC)

I got involved as I had played but was now retired. Although weekends watching mini and youth rugby was great, I really missed the matchday ‘feeling’. It is a really great way to stay involved in rugby and learn more about it and improve skills such as communication skills.Sarah Lennon (Seapoint)

The reason I took the plunge into refereeing was to give something back to the game that has given me so much since I got involved as a 7 year old. what I have gained as a result is a refereeing community that I never realised existed – Justin Kinch (Seapoint) 

John Kerr has had the privilege of being the Leinster Metro Area representative for all referees from the national development group, through the various panels, to our newer recruits – as well as the huge number of Evaluators and mentors that all do so much to help the development of our community. 

Want to get involved? 

Referees provide a vital function in servicing all levels of the game. Refereeing is also a fantastic hobby and is increasingly becoming a genuine alternative to playing the game.

Whether you have aspirations to referee at the highest level or to referee locally, there is a place for you. There are excellent support structures in place to develop referees and a thriving social aspect too.

Feel free to make contact with the Leinster Rugby Referees at brendan.conroy@leinsterrugby.ie  If you are interested in becoming a referee get in contact with us through our Facebook, our website www.leinsterrugbyreferees.ie or through X @leinsterreferee.