Advantage Over podcast for rugby referees

Today, it's a solo episode with Keith talking through the law changes that came into force on 1 July 2026, following World Rugby's Council meeting in June.

While there's a lot to cover, the bottom line is that there isn't much that changes for us as referees. Only two pretty-rare ingoal restarts change from 22DOs to TLDOs for consistency reasons - but as you'll hear, there's a lot of other bits and pieces to be aware of:

• Move of four older GLobal Law Trials into full law
• Introduction of a lower legal tackle height for the community game as law for all (choice for Unions of sternum or waist)
• Minor law wording tweaks for consistency, clarity or to remove confusion or conflicting clauses
• Law application guideline covering the Maul

World Rugby say this isn't about removing/changing laws - it's just a tidy up process and to make the laws easier for people to read and understand. Let us know what you think! Many of you will have had your own lists of 'law problems' - have these all been fixed now? Let us know if you have any others!

Links:

• World Rugby 'What's new' article on the changes
• World Rugby presentation being circuilated to Unions for cascading
• Tackle height law wordings
• June 2026 Maul Law Application Guideline

If you have any comments about this episode, or suggestions for future shows, then drop me a line at [email protected]!

You can follow us here:

Instagram: RugbyRefereenet

Facebook: Page: RugbyReferee.net

Facebook Group: RugbyReferee.net Community

Or you can connect with Keith personally on Twitter or LinkedIn

Today, we're joined by Holly Wood, Rugby World Cup 2025 match official and referee across the men's and women's leagues here in England.

This weekend (28 June 2026), she will referee the PWR Final between Saracens Women and Trailfinders Women - just 10 weeks or so post-partum.

In this episode, recorded just days before baby #2 joined the world, we chat about her elite performance background, her route into refereeing, her first pregnancy journey and the legacy from that process for other female referees around the country.

We also chat about an initiative she has spearheaded attracting new referees from the elite female playing community.

Resources mentioned:

• RFU Match Official Maternity guidance
• High Performance Referee Scholarship with PWR

If you have any comments about this episode, or suggestions for future shows, then drop me a line at [email protected]!

You can follow us here:

Twitter: RugbyRefereenet

Instagram: RugbyRefereenet

Facebook: Page: RugbyReferee.net

Facebook Group: RugbyReferee.net Community

Or you can connect with Keith personally on Twitter or LinkedIn

Andrew Rowland, previously chair of Rugby Southland Referees joins me to talk about two initiatives they are running in the furthest south peninsula of New Zealand.

Firstly their Referees of the Future Scholarship initiative - a new way of attracting young (and not so young....) people into refereeing. We look at what's behind it, what's the 'offer' and how it's going so far. There's some more info here on their 2026 scholarship awardees.

And then Andrew and I talked about their Chaplaincy offer for their match officials in the province. We talk about what it is, what it's not, and how it's helped him and his fellow referees. If the word chaplaincy sends you down a certain thought route (as it did for me), then worth listening to what it actually is.

For more about refereeing in Southland, head here.

If you have any comments about this episode, or suggestions for future shows, then drop me a line at [email protected]!

You can follow us here:

Twitter: RugbyRefereenet

Instagram: RugbyRefereenet

Facebook: Page: RugbyReferee.net

Facebook Group: RugbyReferee.net Community

Or you can connect with Keith personally on Twitter or LinkedIn

Today, we're joined by Hollie Davidson in a different type of interview - different because the questions weren't asked by Keith. This is the audio of a longer interview conducted by Laura-Jane Jones for TNT Sport in November last year, but made available with other media outlets. It's full of gold!

If you missed the last episode with Tarsh Ganley, then you can listen here

Areas covered in today's episode:

1. Off-field Hollie -How having non-rugby hobbies is so important
2. The switch from women's to men's
3. Being the only female in men's camp
4. Knowing what a red card feels like - and learning from those feelings
5. Her team around her - growing together and those who went before
6. Her lead up to the Wales v NZ in November
7. The benefit of being a female in the men's space
8. Referees being in the room around rugby conversations at World Rugby level
9. Player turned referee
10. Trolls and how it feels to be a ref under the microscope
11. Her future - after refereeing, but also the near future with RWC 2027 on the horizon

If you have any comments about this episode, or suggestions for future shows, then drop me a line at [email protected]!

You can follow us here:

Twitter: RugbyRefereenet

Instagram: RugbyRefereenet

Facebook: Page: RugbyReferee.net

Facebook Group: RugbyReferee.net Community

Or you can connect with Keith personally on Twitter or LinkedIn

Today, I'm joined by Natarsha Ganley from New Zealand to chat about her rise from newbie to Rugby World Cup referee.

We chat about her starting story, her new day job, her referee career to date, overcoming injury at a crucial point in the selection cycle, and her RWC experiences. We also chat about what's next, including how she's heading north for three months in 2026 to gain refereeing experience in England's PWR league.

If you have any comments about this episode, or suggestions for future shows, then drop me a line at [email protected]!

You can follow us here:

Instagram: RugbyRefereenet

Facebook: Page: RugbyReferee.net

Facebook Group: RugbyReferee.net Community

Or you can connect with Keith personally on Twitter or LinkedIn

Today, we're joined by Jonny Cartwright, who you may know as The_Bald_Ref on Instagram. He's just been recognised as Loosehead Of the Year 2025 at the Looseheadz Community Awards.

We talk about:

• Jonny's journey from coach to referee
• How he develops referees in his role as T&D lead in Manchester & District Referees (MADRefs)
• How Looseheadz is and how he got into supporting them (trigger warning)
• #WaffleWednesday
• His officiating at the World Record rugby matches in Ireland earlier in 2025
• How he got into trouble for calling out clubs on Instagram when they fail to respect referees
• The effect that has on referee resilience and mental health of match officials

Resources & Links:

• Jonny on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/the_bald_ref/
• LooseHeadz: https://looseheadz.co.uk/
• LH help and support: https://looseheadz.co.uk/help-and-support/
• Previous episodes covering mental health and resilience subjects in rugby and refereeing - Nick Marshall and Tim Wyatt

If you have any comments about this episode, or suggestions for future shows, then drop me a line at [email protected]!

You can follow us here:

Instagram: RugbyRefereenet

Facebook: Page: RugbyReferee.net

Facebook Group: RugbyReferee.net Community

Or you can connect with Keith personally on Twitter or LinkedIn

Hi, it's Keith here and after numerous prods from you, dear listeners, it was time to get the recording device out once again.

Bit of a catch up on a few things in today's episode:

• Women's RWC match officiating
• Refereeing a foul play scenario after a try
• Charging down a Try Line Drop out
• Refereeing the new open play pod lift
• A tricky situation for me with a piece of player equipment

Relevant links:

RugbyReferee.net Open play pod lift article

World Rugby approved devices list

Rezon Halos - may well be a great product but not approved for use in matches yet - see their FAQ page

If you have any comments about this episode, or suggestions for future shows, then drop me a line at [email protected]!

You can follow us here:

Instagram: RugbyRefereenet

Facebook: Page: RugbyReferee.net

Facebook Group: RugbyReferee.net Community

Or you can connect with Keith personally on Twitter or LinkedIn

In this episode, Keith talks through the announcement from World Rugby following the Council meeting on 14 November which agreed to the introduction of four Global Law Trials for new competitions/leagues after 1 January 2025.

References to "previous episodes" relate to Episode 40: Ep 40 - What is going on with laws and law changes at World Rugby?

We talk about:

• Quicker conversions
• A new set time to form a lineout (in line with 30 seconds at the scrum)
• Cleaner play away from the ruck/maul/scrum
• Not straight at uncontested lineout = play on

The following were not approved for progression

• One stop maul
• Mark from a kick off/restart
• 20 minute red card replacement - decision deferred to 2025

Plus two new approved TMO protocols.

For full law wordings, and download links to TMO protocols you can visit: https://passport.world.rugby/laws-of-the-game/laws-news/global-law-trials-1-january-2025/

If you have any comments about this episode, or suggestions for future shows, then drop me a line at [email protected]!

You can follow us here:

Twitter: RugbyRefereenet

Instagram: RugbyRefereenet

Facebook: Page: RugbyReferee.net

Facebook Group: RugbyReferee.net Community

Or you can connect with Keith personally on Twitter or LinkedIn

This episode is all about you and something I've created for you. It's the sort of thing that I never knew I needed, but now it's a real, physical thing, Im hoping it helps you and your refereeing.

It can be a solitary life as a referee - often travelling on our own to matches, not seeing any advisers/coaches every week, and only monthly meetings with our peers. So how can we help you think positively about your refereeing and your progress?

This is where the Journal comes in. This has all the crib sheets, tick lists, advice, prep you need to help record your season and your refereeing. It's the place you can prepare for, and then analyse your performances through the season.

Keith explains how the journal came about, what's in it, and of course, where you can buy one (TLDR: rugbyreferee.net/journal - price £18.50)

What's in it?

• Place to set your season goals
• Place to record your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
• A checklist for your kitbag,
• A crib sheet to help you create your AR brief,
• A place to track your fitness tests through a season.
• And a season long Match Day Focus area - what are your big picture focus areas for each game area - Tackle, Ruck/Maul, Scrums, Lineout, Space, Safety/FP, Comms, Management.

And then of course, as it's a journal, it has a place for you to prep and review all your matches through the season! It has a calendar for the next few years, and then the meaty bit - the season-long journal

There's a monthly calendar sheets and then 4x match pages. For each match there's three key elements

• Prep page - all the things you need to get hold of and think about before your next match - colours, league positions, their form, Captains name if know, who your ARs and or Ref Coach/Reviewer. A place for logistics - directions, times, travel etc Any issues from last time/weekend to bring forward, and some focus areas for the match
• Match day check in - a chance just to use the journal to get your head in the game. There's prompts to ask say how you're feeling, to remind yourself what you want from the game, how you want to feel when you get home, and set some projections for what you want to do in the game. It's open ended and multi-interpretational. "In my refereeing today, I'm going to....."
• Match review - chance to record the match data, score, pens, cards, any fitness data you might have tracked
• Some simple quick game reflections on how you felt each area went
• 3 things that went well
• feedback points from others
• Any reflections from your prep page focus areas and then a section for overall reflections and work ons.
• And there's four of those sets of pages in each calendar month and 10 months to cover - so that'll help you with 40 matches sets. Some of you may not need that, some may need to tell me you want more in the next iteration of it! I'd love to know what you think.

All together, that's 178 pages of journal goodness, with a hard back and front and with sturdy wire binding. I wanted this to be strong enough to get you through a season of it being in and out of kitbags, cars, backpacks. So it's a quality item that will, hopefully last.

The good news is, Ive got a batch in stock now, and if that sounds like something that will help your refereeing, then you can head to rugbyreferee.net/journal for a little more info, or if you're ready to buy it right now - rugbyrefereejournal.net saves you a click and takes to you the buying page! Do your thing and I'll get one in the post to you straight away!

The buying pages has options for different currencies, and we can ship to all over the world. At the moment, they're all here in my house, so you'll need to a shipping cost from the UK. If this goes well, then I'll see how we might do print and sales from different countries, but one step at a time.

They're ON SALE NOW: rugbyrefereejournal.net

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If you're a match official, please do come and join our RugbyReferee.net Facebook Community 

And if you appreciate this podcast, please do buy me a coffee to say thanks!

Feedback always welcome: [email protected] or come and find us on social media usually at the @rugbyrefereenet handle

A walk through the law change proposals coming out of World Rugby in recent weeks. What is going on? What will actually change?  And when? 

In today's episode, I will walk through where this law chat has come from, the importance of World Rugby's Shape of the Game meetings and all the elements that are flowing from that event held at the end of February 2024. 

More information mentioned in the episode: 

1) World Rugby press release: Shape of the Game meeting. 29 February 2024

2) WR Press release 2 - World Rugby reveals phased plan to enhance rugby’s global appeal

3) Law Application Guideline: March 2024 - Reinforcement of current law

Also - Laws and the change programme were discussed in the WR Player Welfare & Laws Symposium held on Monday 8 April. You can watch the session here

If you're a match official, please do come and join our RugbyReferee.net Facebook Community 

And if you appreciate this podcast, please do buy me a coffee to say thanks!

Feedback always welcome: [email protected]  or come and find us on social media usually at the @rugbyrefereenet handle