CHANGES TO REFEREE APPOINTMENTS FOR SUPER RUGBY ROUNDS 9 AND 10

CHANGES TO REFEREE APPOINTMENTS FOR SUPER RUGBY ROUNDS 9 AND 10

Injuries to Chris Pollock and Steve Walsh have prompted changes to the referees appointments for Round 9 matches in Super Rugby this weekend.

Pollock has withdrawn from the match between the Rebels and the Highlanders in Melbourne on Friday and has been replaced by Garratt Williamson, whilst Walsh, who was due to referee the match between the Brumbies and the Western Force in Canberra on Sunday, is replaced by Keith Brown.

“Changes have had to be made with Steve Walsh and Chris Pollock recovering from minor calf strains,” said SANZAR Game Manager, Lyndon Bray.

“The selection team for the referees was determined to ensure that these two top performing referees were fully fit for their next assignments, from Round 10 onwards. There was simply too much doubt around their injuries to risk them in the middle this weekend. Any recurrence of the injuries might have seen them out for between four and six weeks, if we put the injuries under pressure over 80 minutes,” Bray said.

The selection team has, meanwhile, made one change to the Round 10 appointments.

“The selectors have decided to move Jonathon White onto the Blues vs Rebels match in Albany on Friday 22 April and bring Steve Walsh into the Reds vs Waratahs match on Saturday 23rd. Swapping Jonathon from that match onto the Albany match was a simple ‘horses for courses’ decision.

“The game in Brisbane is a ‘top-of-the-table clash and has the potential to determine the top team from the Australian Conference.

“Whilst Jonathon is a highly regarded referee, he has only recently entered the 2011 competition and after two games is beginning to rekindle the form he demonstrated last year. The right decision is to put Steve, who has been performing extremely well, into this critical home conference fixture,” Bray said.

Issued by SANZAR