European Appointments For Six Irish Referees

Six Irish referees have been chosen to take charge of upcoming Champions Cup and Challenge Cup matches in rounds 3 and 4 of the EPCR tournaments.

The announcement of the referees for the key back-to-back fixtures in Europe next month brought good news for a number of IRFU referees.

Ireland’s Peter Fitzgibbon (Benetton Treviso v Northampton Saints), George Clancy (Castres Olympique v Wasps, Toulon v Leicester Tigers) and John Lacey (Toulouse v Glasgow Warriors, Wasps v Castres Olympique) will referee five crunch Champions Cup games between them in December.

Meanwhile, their Irish compatriots, David Wilkinson (Grenoble v Femi-CZ Rugby Rovigo, Newport Gwent Dragons v Bucharest Wolves), Dudley Phillips (Brive v Oyonnax, Stade Francais v Newcastle Falcons) and Gary Conway (Oyonnax v Brive) will have the whistle for some important round 3 and 4 ties in the Challenge Cup.

Click here to the full list of Champions Cup and Challenge Cup rounds 3-4 referee appointments.

For Munster’s back-to-back encounters with Clermont Auvergne in Champions Cup Pool 1, England’s Wayne Barnes will referee the first game in Limerick before Nigel Owens of Wales takes over for the return leg in France.

Two French referees – Jerome Garces and Romain Poite – have been selected for the upcoming duels between Leinster and Harlequins, with Poite the man in the middle for the Aviva Stadium showdown on December 13.

England officials Luke Pearce and JP Doyle have been appointed to Ulster’s two upcoming Pool 3 matches against Scarlets, while Matthew Carley (England) and Ian Davies (Wales) will be on duty when Connacht meet Bayonne in their back-to-back Challenge Cup pool fixtures.

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