Refereeing assignments for the coming weekend

From planetrugby.co.uk:

"The European action continues this week
with another full round of fixtures in the Heineken Cup and Amlin
Challenge Cup tournaments.



Welsh referee Nigel Owens will be the man in the middle at
Welford Road when Leicester Tigers try to avenge last week's defeat
against Clermont in a crucial Pool Four Heineken Cup match.


Heineken Cup, Round Four


Edinburgh vs Cardiff Blues
Referee: Pascal Gauzere
(France)
Assistant referees: Jean-Luc Rebollal (France), Cyril Lafon
(France)
Television match official: Eric Gonthier (France)


Ospreys vs Saracens
Referee: Jérôme Garces (France)
Assistant
referees: Laurent Cardona (France), Jérôme Lamirand (France)
Television
match official: Jean-Marie Piraveau (France)


Biarritz vs Benetton Treviso
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon
(Ireland)
Assistant referees: Simon McDowell (Ireland), David Keane
(Ireland)
Television match official: Tony Redmond (Ireland)


Leicester Tigers vs Clermont Auvergne
Referee: Nigel
Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Gwyn Morris (Wales), Jonathan Mason
(Wales)
Television match official: Derek Bevan (Wales)


Aironi vs Ulster
Referee: Greg Garner (England)
Assistant
referees: Ian Tempest (England), Andrew Pearce (England)
Television
match official: Trevor Fisher (England)


London Irish vs Racing-Métro
Referee: John Lacey
(Ireland)
Assistant referees: John Carvill (Ireland), Barry O'
Connell (Ireland)



Gloucester vs Connacht
Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Assistant
referees: Neil Hennessy (Wales), Huw David (Wales)
Television match
official: Gareth Simmonds (Wales)


Montpellier vs Glasgow
Referee: Andrew Small (England)
Assistant
referees: Sean Davey (England), Nigel Carrick (England)
Television
match official: Graham Hughes (England)


Leinster vs Bath
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant
referees: Patrick Pechambert (France), Eric Soulan (France)
Television
match official: Daniel Gillet (France)


Munster vs Scarlets
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant
referees: JP Doyle (England), Paul Dix (England)
Television match
official: Geoff Warren (England)


Northampton vs Castres
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant
referees: Leo Colgan (Ireland), Richard Kerr (Ireland)
Television
match official: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)


Toulouse vs Harlequins
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant
referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Brian MacNiece (Ireland)
Television
match official: Peter Ferguson (Ireland)


Amlin Challenge Cup, Round Four


Bordeaux vs Rovigo
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant
referees: Martin Fox (England) ,Robin Goodliffe (England)



London Wasps vs Bayonne
Referee: Neil Paterson
(Scotland)
Assistant referees: David Changleng (Scotland)), Andy
Ireland (Scotland)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland))


Brive vs La Vila
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant
referees: Stefano Marrama (Italy), Claudio Blessano (Italy)



Stade Français vs Crociati
Referee: Andrew Macpherson
(Scotland)
Assistant referees: Rob Dickson (Scotland)), Adrian Graves
(Scotland)
Television match official: Iain Heard (Scotland))


Prato vs Perpignan
Referee: James Jones (Wales)
Assistant
referees: Martyn Lewis (Wales), Chris Williams (Wales)



Petrarca vs Lyon
Referee: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
Assistant
referees: Iain Ramage (Scotland)), Bob Nevins (Scotland))



Worcester Warriors vs Bucharest
Referee: Stefano Pennè
(Italy)
Assistant referees: Stefano Roscini (Italy), Filippo Bertelli
(Italy)



Toulon vs Newcastle Falcons
Referee: Peter Allan
(Scotland))
Assistant referees: Andrew Macpherson (Scotland)), Rob
Dickson (Scotland)
Television match official: Iain Heard (Scotland))


Sale Sharks vs Agen
Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
Assistant
referees: Olly Hodges (Ireland), Stuart Gaffakin (Ireland)



Dragons vs Exeter Chiefs
Referee: Mathieu Raynal
(France)
Assistant referees: Akim Hadj Bachir (France), Vincent
Azoulay (France)"

Nigel Owens.... Oh Lord!

Northampton vs Castres
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland, and a partisan Munster fan)

Great appoitnment ERC.

I feel sorry for Qins. They were done over in the breakdown last week and this week they have Rolland to contend with as well as an away game vs THAT Tolouse pack.

We aren't much better off, Nigel Owens is pretty useless and will nulify our advantage in the scrum.

.....cos the referee is the only reason a team loses a game of rugby.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:.....cos the referee is the only reason a team loses a game of rugby.

Do you not read these boards?

On saturday evening I predicted Owens would be the ref for the rematch this weekend. I do not believe it will make any difference to the outcome - it will just mean I do not bother investing in reflink for the day.

I think it will have a significant difference at the scrum LT. Owens really does not bother enforcing a correct scrum as long as the ball hits the 8s feet. Expect Clermont to collapse the second the ball goes past the second row to give Parra a nice stable base to pass off. As for the rest of the game I'd expect an open battle at the breakdown but both teams were well up for that last week.

formerly known as Sam wrote:I think it will have a significant difference at the scrum LT. Owens really does not bother enforcing a correct scrum as long as the ball hits the 8s feet. Expect Clermont to collapse the second the ball goes past the second row to give Parra a nice stable base to pass off. As for the rest of the game I'd expect an open battle at the breakdown but both teams were well up for that last week.

Owens will ping them if it goes down before the ball gets to the no8. Tigers might still have the edge in the scrum this weekend but ASM will be hurting after that last showing in the scrum and I wouldn't be surprised to see a marked improvement from them. Any complacency by Tigers will be jumped on.

Poite is a decent ref but for the scrums.

Leinster will be up to all sorts of trickery in the front row, anything to get the perceived advantage. Because whoever looks to be on top will be awarded all of the calls.