Heineken referees told to focus on five key areas

REFEREES have been told to focus on five areas during the Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cup campaigns this season by the ERC.

A directive through a series of meetings has been sent to the match officials, in line with the areas strictly marshalled at the World Cup, to clamp down on dangerous tackles, the breakdown, scrum engagement, obstruction, and offsides at rucks and from kicks.

The ERC’s match official performance manager, Donal Courtney, has also met with club coaches and officials of every team in the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup clubs to emphasise the point. The meetings were also attended by the referee managers of the six national unions.

“We’ve made sure that all match officials and club coaches are aware of the five key areas which we believe demand particular attention at the moment and, as organisers of Europe’s leading club tournaments, we are expecting a consistency of approach from all match officials throughout the tournaments,” said Courtney.

“In assessing the performance of match officials, feedback and critical analysis from the clubs will be greatly valued.”

In another development, the ERC has confirmed half time for both tournaments will now be 15 minutes as opposed to the 10 minutes allocated in previous seasons.