Referees Corner – Issue 8 – 2025/26 – Edinburgh

Welcome to another edition of Referees Corner.  Today’s match referee is Andrea Piardi. Andrea 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 16th time refereeing Leinster, the last time being the URC Final in Croke Park last June. He is ably assisted by Eoghan Cross and Shane Gaughan, with Matteo Liperini in the TMO box. Glen Sheridan is the 4th official, Brendan Conroy is the 5th official, Hayley Whyte is the stats official, Brian MacNeice is the FPRO and Dan Wallace is the TK.

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. 

Round 1 of the Leinster Schools kicked on on January 19th with Terenure College taking on Kilkenny College in Energia Park. The Leinster Schools Junior Cup kicks off next week on February 3rd with Blackrock College taking on Kilkenny at the same venue, in a double header. We wish the referees well and congratulate them on their appointments. The referees for Round 1 are: 

Terenure College v Kilkenny College – Euan O’Riordan

Clongowes Wood College v St Marys College – Andrew Cole

Belvedere College v Cistercian College Roscrea – Mitchell Enderby

Gonzaga College v Qualifier – Sean Kearns

St Gerards School v Presentation College Bray – Ross Shaughnessy

St Fintans v St Michaels – Ciaran O’Flynn

Blackrock College v St Vincents Castleknock College – Ryan Deacon

We had two great refereeing performances for the Boys finals last year with Robbie Jenkinson refereeing the Senior Final and Ross Shaughnessy refereeing the Junior Final. Robbie refereed his first URC game between Zebre and Glasgow Warriors last weekend in Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi. Well done and well deserved Robbie!!!

We continually train and educate our referees in Leinster, be that through evaluation, coaching or educational seminars. Our mid-season seminar was held last week on Wednesday, January 21st in Westmanstown Conference Centre. It was not only a great opportunity to evaluate the season thus far but also for our referees to get together and meet each other in an informal setting. More on this seminar in the next edition of referees corner.

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.