Law Changes From July 1st 2022 And Water Carriers and Technical Zone FAQ

All the law changes come into force on Friday 1 July, or for competitions that start after that date. Some competitions, which have started in the last week or so, have been given permission to go early. The WR laws content – website and app - will be updated on Friday, and the World Rugby laws exam will be ... More

Accessing the RFU’s eLearning Safeguarding Training

Message from: Mike Hull, Safeguarding Officer, M&DRURS To: Referees and Assessors Accessing the RFU’s eLearning Safeguarding Training For those of you who have not completed the RFU’s Safeguarding Training course and would like to do so, an online version is available. The RFU now require that new DBS ... More

Preferred Options Papers Update – March 2022

A new Preferred Options paper (#18), "Sanctions and Dealing with Foul Play Plus Managing Yellow and Red Cards", has just been published. PO#4 on positioning has been revised. The complete list of PO papers can be found here.   More

Match Official Abuse – Message from RFRU Chair

Yesterday, referees’ societies in England received a message from Mike Priestley, the chair of the Rugby Football Referees Union (RFRU), concerning match official abuse and appealing, backchat and challenging. It is reproduced below. The RFRU recognises that there is a worrying increase in these regretful incidents ... More

RFU article features YMO Nathan Power

Well done to Nathan Power, one of our Young Match Officials (YMO), who was interviewed for an England Rugby website article - "Young, Talented and in Control". The article highlighted that there are more than a thousand qualified YMOs, many of whom, according to England Rugby, show huge potential. In common with ... More

World Rugby Law Clarifications – Diving on the ball coming out of the Ruck and In-goal Scenarios

Diving on the ball coming out of the Ruck Message from Keith Lewis, Laws Co-ordinator, World Rugby (dated 4 February 2022) "This has just been published online and been sent from the World Rugby International Relations team to your respective Unions. Normally these would come out on a Monday, but it was a question that ... More

International Cap Awarded to Peter Hughes

26 England referees, including 6 ladies, who are still alive and have refereed a match between two Tier One Countries, were awarded their International Caps.  23 gathered, with  partners, in the Members' Lounge at Twickenham last week, for the presentation by the President of the RFU, Jeff Blackett.  Johnny Johnson ... More

Player’s Clothing – query answered

A query has arisen about clothing. A club has an Under18 player who wears a tag, which they cover with padding. Whilst this is not covered in the Regulations, please could you advise on what we can do to allow this lad to play. Reply from Michael Patz RFU Match Official Development Manager Checking with regulat... More

New PO paper: Guidance on trends in the professional game

Preferred Options (PO) paper #21 address issues of perceived disparity between refereeing at the professional and the Community Game levels. Players and coaches in the Community Game who have watched top-level games may now have modified expectations of what to expect from Society referees. The PO, which includes ... More

Updated June 1st: Restoring Focus – Additional Guidance from RFU Match Official Development Manager and Videos illustrating Law variations

Additional Guidance from RFU Match Official Development Manager To:  RFRU & Referee Society Secretaries, Referee Society Training Officers Dear colleagues, I hope you are all keeping well. This is a joint message with David Barnes, RFU Head of Discipline. As we have previously discussed age grade and ... More