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Three Irish referees set for Champions Cup duty as appointments confirmed

Frank Murphy, Andrew Brace and George Clancy will take charge of pool stage fixtures next month.

IRISH REFEREES FRANK Murphy, Andrew Brace and George Clancy have been appointed to take charge of Heineken Champions Cup pool fixtures when the competition gets underway next month.

Joy Neville and Sean Gallagher have also been included in a group of 40 officials today announced as part of the EPCR’s panel for rounds one and two of the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup.

frank-murphy Irish referee Frank Murphy. Ryan Hiscott / INPHO Ryan Hiscott / INPHO / INPHO

Former Connacht and Munster scrum-half Murphy will be the man in the middle for Northampton Saints’ clash against Lyon on the opening weekend, while Brace will take charge of the meeting of Racing 92 and defending champions Saracens in Paris.

Murphy will then be at the Twickenham Stoop in round two for Harlequins’ game against Bath, with Brace officiating La Rochelle’s trip to Sale Sharks and Clancy in charge of Montpellier against Gloucester.

Leo Cullen’s Leinster will begin their campaign at home to Benetton on 16 November and Frenchman Pierre Brousset will be the man in the middle at the RDS, while Karl Dickson will officiate Ospreys against Munster and Connacht’s opener against Montpellier will be refereed by Matthew Carley.

Italian Marius Mitrea will referee Ulster’s opener away at Bath. 

In round two, Dickson will be the man with the whistle for Connacht’s trip to Toulouse, Luke Pearce will take charge of Lyon’s hosting of Leinster and Matthew Carley will oversee Munster against Racing at Thomond Park.

In the Challenge Cup, Neville will run the rule over Agen against Edinburgh and London Irish against Bayonne on the opening two weekends of pool action, with Gallagher appointed to the round one clash between Scarlets and London Irish and then Castres’ showdown with Worcester.

The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competitions get underway on 15/16/17 November.

Heineken Champions Cup referee appointments:

Round 1:

  • Bath v Ulster – Marius Mitrea [Italy]
  • Leinster v Benetton – Pierre Brousset [France]
  • Ospreys v Munster – Karl Dickson [England]
  • Connacht v Montpellier – Matthew Carley [England]

Round 2:

  • Ulster v Clermont – JP Doyle [England]
  • Toulouse v Connacht – Karl Dickson [England]
  • Lyon v Leinster – Luke Pearce [England]
  • Munster v Racing 92 – Matthew Carley [England]

Full referee appointments here.

Ryan Bailey steps into the presenter’s chair where he’s joined by Murray Kinsella and Eoin Toolan on the line for Japan to tee up one of the biggest, if not the biggest week in Irish rugby: a World Cup quarter-final against back-to-back champions New Zealand.


The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud

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