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WORLD RUGBY HAS confirmed that Andrea Piardi, Nika Amashukeli, and Ben O’Keeffe will referee the three Tests between the British & Irish Lions and Australia this summer.
New Zealand’s O’Keeffe will referee the first Test in Brisbane, Italian referee Andrea Piardi will be in charge for the second clash in Melbourne, and Georgian official Nika Amashukeli will be on the whistle for the final Test in Sydney.
32-year-old Piardi and 30-year-old Amashukeli will become the first Italian and Georgian to referee British and Irish Lions Tests.
The same trio of match officials will act as assistant referees for each of the three games Down Under, while Marius Jonker, Richard Kelly, and Eric Gauzins will rotate as the television match officials [TMOs] and foul play review officers [FPROs].
James Doleman, O’Keeffe, Paul Williams, Pierre Brousset, and Piardi will referee the Lions’ warm-up games ahead of their three clashes with the Wallabies.
Before travelling to Australia for the Lions Test, Piardi will referee Ireland’s clash with Georgia on 5 July. Adam Leal and Ben Whitehouse will be his assistants for that game in Tbilisi, with Matteo Liperini on TMO duty.
English referee Leal will take charge of Ireland’s second summer Test against Portugal in Lisbon on 12 July. He will be assisted by Whitehouse and Anthony Woodthorpe, with Liperini named as the TMO again.
For a full list of World Rugby’s match official appointments for the men’s July internationals, click here.
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Any notions that Piardi was being punished suddenly dissipate
@Paul Ennis: he had built up a good body of work before it, and while its was a big error, has been one of the top refs for a while. Though seams from vomments below people want more punishment than being dropped for a round or two, and all the good refereeing before reset to zero.
@Kingshu: yes exactly. He made a mistake. Get on with it. Doesn’t mean he’s a poor ref.
@Sean O’Maolain: it wasn’t just THAT mistake though. There was also the quick tap from the players knee which happened right in front of him and resulted in a try. Also some dreadful calls against both Munster and La Rochelle in that match. I never noticed his as a bad ref previously, but the last few weeks have been immensely poor.
@Sean O’Maolain: But surely thats exactly how judgement is made? :)… (don’t really care for ‘the ref’ debate, Munster were not good enough, end of imo).
@Kingshu: Agreed. I think he is a good referee. The mistake was made on the sideline by volunteer MAR 4th and 5ths. I think he was merely due a week off!! It was just convenient that it looked like a punishment.
@Paul Ennis: yeah I’m not 100% if it was just a coincidence or not, if they did drop him for a week I wouldn’t expect them to say publicly that they were dropping him and would say was due off anyway or suchlike. Doesnt really matter eitherway. Hes a good ref but think this will taint the perception and he’ll find it difficult win the publics trust.
@Paul Ennis: Refs are untouchable, you can’t critique their performance, any mistakes are rewarded with higher honours. If you don’t get in line, you will be fined and sent to referee school until you comply. Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir.
@Matthew Smith: And yet here there are people criticising referees before and after every single game.
Nothing like failing upwards.
I get that refereeing is incredibly challenging but Piardi seems to be joining the English refereeing cohort in developing a history of problems with Irish teams specifically.
Refusing to speak to one team’s captain while allowing the opposition to lecture you is a particularly bad look for example.
@J P Ke: agreed but he’s Italian so it’s about optics. He’s not international standard ,well before the Munster game
Happy to see Amashukeli there. For me he has been in top 3 referees worldwide for a couple of years now. Should have had a bigger role at the last world cup.
@Michael Halpenny: I’d have given him all three games
There isn’t a ref in the world that people won’t cry about. These are all fine refs,
@Gary D: yes aparr from not knowing the rules, they are grand
Piardi is stone useless! The other 2 refs are prob the best to be fair but my lord piardi. I don’t blame him for not being competent as I am sure he is trying his best but it’s the stubbornness and ignorance not talking to players or building any rapport with the players drives me bananas
Hmmm you make a catastrophic error in your job ..how will we deal with this… let’s promote you. It’s nearly as bad Helen McAntee doing a diabolical job in justice and being given education as a nice cherry
Mighty Mike Adamson should have been the bolter after last week’s excellent performance.
@Justin Robinson: he’s Scottish
@Justin Robinson: y
have your say