Test ref Jackson lined out for Highfield in AIL

The referee for the opening test between Ireland and Argentina last weekend says he has fond memories of a season he spent playing for Highfield in the All-Ireland League.

Glen Jackson, who will be one of the touch judges when Ireland take on the Pumas in Tucuman today , spent a season with the Cork club in the mid-1990s. The out-half, who later went on to score over 1,500 points in 130 appearances for Saracens, said he jumped at the chance to go from New Zealand to Ireland.

“Graham Purvis, who was an All Black who had also played for Waikato where I was playing, became coach of Highfield so he said why not come over for six months while we had got no rugby at home, and I jumped at the chance.