Ulster Rugby : U19 WC Legacy: Open Session for Referees

USRFR Officials at the Referees Open Session earlier this week

U19 WC Legacy: Open Session for Referees

5 April 2007, 12:22 pm

By Paula Gunn

U19 World Championship Officials led a training session for local members of the Ulster Society of Rugby Football Referees at Shaws' Bridge Sports Association earlier this week as part of the IRB U19 World Championship Legacy Programme.

MERTS (Monday Evening Referee Training Session) is held every Monday night for local referees who wish to improve on basic fitness requirements such as speed, agility and coordination and this week, all 19 of the referees on the U19 World Championship panel came along to pass on their expertise.

IRFU Referee Development Officers David Keane and David Wilkinson led a group warm up which accumulated in a very competitive game of ‘tip’ rugby.

Julian Pritchard (Australia), James Jones (Wales) and Matt Stanish (New Zealand) then demonstrated and led three specific refereeing drills.

USRFR members were impressed as to how approachable referees from all nations were and found the session extremely beneficial and would hope to incorporate what they learned into their own game.

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