IRFU REFEREES ANDREW Brace and Frank Murphy have been appointed to take charge of European semi-finals this weekend.
32-year-old Brace, who recently refereed his first Guinness Pro14 final, will be on the whistle for the Champions Cup semi-final clash between Exeter Chiefs and Toulouse at Sandy Park on Saturday.
Meanwhile, 35-year-old former Munster and Connacht scrum-half Murphy has been appointed to the Challenge Cup semi-final meeting between Bristol and Bordeaux in Ashton Gate on Friday night.
Welshman Nigel Owens will be in charge for Racing 92′s Champions Cup semi-final encounter with Saracens in Paris on Saturday, while Scotland’s Mike Adamson has been handed the Challenge Cup encounter between Toulon on Leicester later the same day.
The appointments for Brace and Murphy underline their status as rising stars on the refereeing scene and the IRFU will hope to see both making big strides in Test rugby over the 2020/21 season.
Brace was an assistant referee at last year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan and has refereed Test matches before, while Murphy refereed his first Pro12 game as recently as November 2016.
