Referees Corner – Issue 8 – 2024/25 – Cardiff

Welcome to another edition of referees corner and a very warm welcome to today’s URC  game between Leinster and DHL Stormers. Today’s match referee is Andrea Piardi. Andrea Piardi is an Italian rugby union referee. He is the first game official from his country to have refereed in both the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship. He was born in Brescia in 1992. Having previously refereed in the Italian Top12, he made his Pro14 refereeing debut in a match between Munster and the Southern Kings on 15 February 2019. 

In 2021, he was announced as an assistant referee for the 2021 Six Nations Championship for the match between Scotland and Wales. In 2021, Piardi refereed two matches in the 2023 Rugby World Cup qualifiers Americas section, refereeing Uruguay’s matches against Chile and Brazil on 17 July and 25 July respectively. On 19 June 2022 he refereed a match between England and the Barbarian F.C. selection. He also refereed Ireland v Australia last November. This is his first time refereeing Leinster at home. 

He is ably assisted by our colleagues from the Ulster Society Chris Busby, Daniel Carson and Matteo Liperini in the TMO box. Gordon Condell is today’s match time keeper. 

A few weeks ago the URC had the Origin Round. Origin Round is where all URC teams and supporters come together to champion the clubs and volunteers that gave all of our players, staff and supporters their first steps into the world of rugby. It was great to see Paul Haycock and Robbie Jenkinson on duty during the Munster v Scarlets game wearing their club socks of Terenure College RFC and Skerries RFC.

The first thing most referees look forward to after the Christmas period is the Bank of Ireland sponsored Leinster Schools Senior and Junior Challenge Cups. The draw in December kicks this off, but it is the selection of referees that is greatly anticipated. Refereeing a schools cup game, be it on the great surface in Donnybrook, or any other club in Leinster is one of the highlights of any referees career. Not every referee gets to do one so being selected makes it a bit more special. Some referees may never have played to that level in schools, some may not have played rugby in schools at all and some are reliving past glories on the D4 pitch.  Whilst any schools cup game is special for the players, it is equally special for the referee. Some referees may never be lucky enough to referee a game in front of a big crowd again, others may never referee on TV again, so it is an opportunity to be cherished. We’ve already had some great games this season, with plenty more to look forward to. 

Robbie Jenkinson, Cillian Hogan, Dermot Blake and Andrew Cole refereed the four quarter finals of the Senior Cup this year with all games taking place in Energia Park. Padraic Reidy and Paul Haycock will referee the Semi Finals next week. Jack MacNeice, Ciaran O’Flynn, Ethan Lyons and Euan O’Riordan will refereed the Quarter Finals of the Schools Junior Cup. We will have to wait to see who gets to referee the coveted final of each competition. Tallaght Stadium set to host 2025 Leinster Schools Senior Cup final. The Leinster Schools Senior Cup final will move out of Dublin 4 and into Dublin 24 in March. 

Our first regional area meetings of the year took place over the last few weeks across the province. There were several areas of the game for discussion – including offside in front of kicks, foul play process, referee taking control of decision making, touch judge positioning, and referee positioning near the goal line. The sessions were facilitated by our national panel referees Mitchell Enderby, Robbie Jenkinson, Padraic Reidy, Andrew Cole and John Carvill. 

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 hayley.whyte@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.