Martin And Colgan Set For World Rugby U-20 Championship Involvement
Irish referee Peter Martin is pictured before taking charge of the BKT United Rugby Championship match between the Dragons and Glasgow Warriors earlier this season ©INPHO/Mike Jones
Peter Martin has clocked up plenty of personal achievements and air miles this season, and the IRFU High Performance referee is set to close out the 2024/25 campaign with his World Rugby Under-20 Men’s Championship debut.
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Martin is one of ten referees from 10 different Unions selected on the Emirates Match Official panel for this year’s World Rugby U-20 Men’s Championship, which will be held across Italy’s Lombardia and Veneto regions from June 29 to July 19.
The selected referees are Martin, Tomas Bertazza (Argentina), Ben Breakspear (Wales), Griffin Colby (South Africa), Katsuki Furuse (Japan), Marcus Playle (New Zealand), Jérémy Rozier (France), Filippo Russo (Italy), Lex Weiner (USA), and Morgan White (Hong Kong China).
It is another significant appointment for the Belfast native, who is in his first year on the IRFU High Performance panel.
He refereed his first EPCR Challenge Cup match in January, taking charge of the Toyota Cheetahs v Zebre Parma pool fixture in Amsterdam, and made his HSBC SVNS Men’s Series debut this season.
He has also had appointments in the BKT United Rugby Championship and Energia All-Ireland League, and refereed the Italy v France match during the recent U-20 Men’s Six Nations Championship.
A qualified chartered accountant and proud Queen’s University Belfast RFC clubman, Martin started refereeing with the Ulster Society of Rugby Referees in 2010.
The 33-year-old’s rise through the refereeing ranks saw him crowned Ulster’s Referee of the Year in 2019, and the Energia All-Ireland League Referee of the Season in 2023.
His selection for the upcoming World Rugby U-20 Men’s Championship will see him follow in the footsteps of fellow IRFU High Performance referee Eoghan Cross, who was involved in the 2023 age-grade tournament in South Africa.
Meanwhile, the IRFU’s Leo Colgan will be one of the five appointed television match officials at this summer’s U-20 Championship in Italy.
The Dublin-born, Limerick-raised former Test referee has had a busy international season of TMO duties, across WXV1, the Women’s Six Nations, the Pacific Four Series, and the Rugby Europe Men’s Championship.
Colgan, who will also add to the Irish representation at this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, is part of this weekend’s URC play-offs as TMO for the quarter-final between the Vodacom Bulls and Edinburgh. Martin is one of the assistant referees for Saturday’s game in Pretoria.
World Rugby’s Talent ID Manager and Tournament Referee Manager, Johnny Lacey, commented: “The selection of this panel highlights the referees that are coming through our pathway system.
“We have been working closely with our Unions and regions to increase the number of match officials in our pathway into World Rugby competitions.
“We are already starting to see the benefits with our talent identification programme providing four referees for this tournament, and we are excited to see what the future holds for the officials involved in our Men’s and Women’s pathways.”
Among the World Rugby U-20 Championship refereeing debutants are Furuse, White, and Weiner, who all impressed at the World Rugby U-20 Trophy competition in Scotland last year – underlining the strength of World Rugby’s development pathway for match officials.
This pathway is further highlighted by the presence of six Italian officials who will serve as assistant referees during the tournament, among them Alberto Favaro and Franco Rosella.
Coached by Neil Doak, the Ireland Under-20 Men will kick off the pool stages against Georgia in Calvisano’s Stadio San Michele on Sunday, June 29, before facing host nation Italy, and then New Zealand to decide their finishing position in Pool C.
Tickets for the World Rugby U-20 Championship can be purchased via https://federugby.ticketone.it/catalog, and cover all three games at a venue on a match day.